UPDATE: The launch/jump attempt for Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos mission on October 9 has been aborted due to winds at the launch site in Roswell, New Mexico. At first, there was a 5 hour weather delay, then a radio system malfunction which was fixed, and then the winds became too high. Winds have to relatively benign for the huge balloon to take off. The balloon used for this mission is three times larger than any other human balloon flight.
Felix Baumgartner will leap from nearly 37 km (23 miles, 120,000 feet), attempting to not only break the sound barrier with his body, but also break the record for the longest freefall
We’ll provide updates and post the live video feed for future attempts. The weather for the rest of the week remains “iffy,” however.
Re balloon size is it really 3 times larger than the Qinetic balloon of a few years ago. To be sure this one malfunctioned and never flew but was about to carry 2 men to an even greater height.
Roseland Observatory.
Had a quick check re Qinetic balloon its volume was to be 40 million cu ft. Felix’s is stated as 30 million cu ft. I know facts in balloon work are pretty changeable – it all depends how they are measured.
Roseland Observatory.
Small correction it should be QinetiQ but pronounced as I wrote it