I had a lot to do around the house today, but I took the time to watch this live:
“The exit was perfect but then I started spinning slowly. I thought I’d just spin a few times and that would be that, but then I started to speed up. It was really brutal at times. I thought for a few seconds that I’d lose consciousness. I didn’t feel a sonic boom because I was so busy just trying to stabilize myself. We’ll have to wait and see if we really broke the sound barrier. It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.†– Felix Baumgartner, October 14, 2012
He made it look like it was easy. You could see the spinning on the long range infrared cameras, and it was worrysome, but it didn’t look bad enough to appear that he was in real trouble. And then he recovered. He broke a several records, including highest manned balloon flight, highest jump, and fastest speed without benefit of a vehicle. But I was happy Joe Kittinger‘s record on longest free fall still stands. The dude deserves to hold at least one record. I suspect Baumgartner shot into the atmosphere like a bullet, and just covered the extra distance that much faster.
UPDATE: From Tam, who also watched the live event on Al Gore’s Internets:
I just used a global communication network to watch video footage and telemetry streamed in real time from the edge of space, where a man privately sponsored by an energy drink company leaped into the black sky and went supersonic without an aircraft.
What a fascinating modern world we live in!
Yep. The next time man lands on the moon, it’ll have a sponsor. Who’ll sponsor the Mars Shot? Probably whichever company corners the moon tourism market.
UPDATE: Another thought. I don’t think the many Americans that tuned in to the live jump thought too much about the fact that an Austrian was gunning for, and eventually beat several world records held by an American. This is still a country where we celebrate individual achievement — one that doesn’t care much whether you’re Austrian, English, Turkish, Armenian, Russian, Chinese, Kenyan or Indonesian. Joe Kittinger helped the Austrian beat all but one of his own records — people who were 70 years ago a mortal enemy. No one thought anything of it. Think about that when you consider the bullshit being flung far and wide over the Sekaku Islands.
I did pick up on that fact, but not in the way you mention. What I thought was that when the Austrian decides he wants to try to break the record, step one is to get to America, where they do big things.
lol… also, that last update is really weird…. “I don’t think the many Americans that tuned in to the live jump thought too much about the fact that an Austrian was gunning for, and eventually beat several world records held by an American. This is still a country where we celebrate individual achievement — one that doesn’t care much whether you’re Austrian, English, Turkish, Armenian, Russian, Chinese, Kenyan or Indonesian. ” wut? what made you even think this in the first place? did you ask any Americans what they thought in the first place? or did you just assume that to piss on (a lil drizzle) Americans?
I don’t think it’s so much to denigrate Americans. I first read it as a compliment to the American spirit of accomplishment. So many Americans were watching this event (my house was streaming it on 3 different computers and recording the Discovery broadcast on the DVR). Don’t you think it’s an amazing thing that so many Americans were tuning in to watch a piece of History being made? When he touched down safely and with several more records set, there were loud cheers in my house. I’d be willing to bet that this was the reaction of the majority of American’s who watched it. American’s don’t really care what nationality someone is when they’re pushing the limits of what humans as a people are capable of. They’re willing to cheer and encourage anyone who’s willing to take that step.
I always assumed M&M Mars would sponsor the Mars mission. How awesome would it be if the astronauts were eating Snickers and M&M’s before that first big step?
“That’s one small step for Man, and one giant bite from my Snicker’s bar!”
Kittinger was smiling the during the whole free fall. Sometimes watching your records fall gives you the same thrill as setting the record the first time. Kittinger was and will always be a pioneer. The jump made by Felix would have been much harder without Kittinger being on the team.
Having Col. Kittenger on hand was a class act.
Everything was beyond amazing. Mr. Baumgartner was superb! But somewhere in the back recesses of my mind I thought, “I wonder if Red Bull is taken over by Brawndo in our future ‘Idiocracy'”.