In preparation for his jump from from 36,500 meters (120,000 feet) sometime this summer, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner took a practice jump yesterday from Roswell, New Mexico. The Red Bull Stratos Mission just posted the video of the jump — well, actually everything but the jump (you’ll see the preparations and post landing in this video). I’m sure the best footage is being saved for a documentary about the mission that is being done by the BBC and National Geographic. But this taste of the action whets your whistle for the big jump, when Baumgartner could become the first person to go supersonic outside a vehicle. He plans one more test jump, from 27,400 meters (90,000 feet) before attempting the full 36,500 meters to break the record for the longest freefall. According to Red Bull Stratos, the ‘launch window’ for the big jump opens in July and extends until the beginning of October.
7 Replies to “Watch Felix Baumgartner’s Test Jump”
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cool
!!! Been waiting to see this since yesterday!!! Thx, Nancy!
Now that I watch it, I see the word, “Teaser”… D’oh! Oh well, still cool even though it doesn’t show the fall.
Am I missing something? What is being tested in this whole episode? What technological or physiological problem(s) that real astronauts or future spacefarers will/may face is/are being solved or resolved by this? I haven’t seen even a single mention of the practicality of this business. Is it just the “cool”-factor or what?
Otherwise, I just don’t get it. Just seems like the usual dumb daredevilry.
“The next generation space-suit”. It’s mentioned in the video
Yeah, no. We can’t watch Felix Baumgartner’s test jump here – link bait headline. Of course, we do get to watch a nice advert.
So bad Michel Fournier didn’t have the dough to make it this far :/