Felix Baumgartner will soon attempt to become the first man to break the sound barrier in free-fall from space. →
Highly-skilled skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner is picking up where Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger left off: ascending in a helium-filled balloon close to 23 miles into space, and then jumping back to earth.
Baumgartner will break the speed of sound, if he succeeds. If he spins slightly, if his suit malfunctions, or if any number of seemingly tiny things happens to throw off his free fall, he most likely will not survive. But this is a guy who completed a carbon-wing flight across the English Channel, setting a world record for free human flight. He’s BASE jumped from the tallest building and tallest bridge in the world. He’s got Col. Kittinger partnered with him, as well as an elite team of scientists, engineers, neurologists, and other researchers, sponsored all by Red Bull.
Red Bull? Sure, why not. NASA doesn’t want to touch this one. Privately funded space exploration is the wave of the galactic future. I can’t find a concrete date for when the jump is planned, but all outlets indicate that it’s going to be very soon.
I’ve been excited about this for over 10 years. Kittinger is a hero of mine, and doing this is my impossible dream. In 2000 there was someone else “very close” to making the attempt, but it never happened. With Kittinger on board, this looks like it’s a go. So cool.
