Tag Archives: Felix Baumgartner

We have lift off: Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Stratos launch for record-breaking space jump, watch right here (update: done!)

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Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Stratos preparing for next record-breaking space jump attempt, watch right here video

Talk about building up the tension! Yep, our favorite Austrian daredevil is back out on the New Mexico desert, hoping the weather will hold, and he can finally fall into the record books. Don't forget, you can catch up on Felix Baumgartner's long journey to Roswell in our project overview, but if you're just here for the jump, no problem, as you can watch right here too. Currently conditions are looking like they might just go in Baumgartner's favor, despite some initial concerns about wind levels. But, as we found out earlier in the week, anything can change in an instant. Hold on to your hat (and your breakfast), and hop past the break to watch the events unfold live.

Update: Some spoilers lurk ahead if you didn't get to watch live and wanted to catch the event for yourself, so switch articles if you want to catch replays later on. For everyone else: it's a success! Despite some worries about heat going to the helmet visor that threatened the attempt, Baumgartner has at least unofficially broken records both for the highest-ever manned balloon flight and the all-important altitude record for a jump, either of which respectively occurred just over and just under 128,000 feet. Baumgartner also broke the speed record for freefall, although he was just short of Joe Kittinger's 4-minute, 36-second freefall duration. There's a media event still ahead that should provide more details, but for now we'd just like to welcome Felix back to Earth.

Continue reading We have lift off: Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Stratos launch for record-breaking space jump, watch right here (update: done!)

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We have lift off: Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Stratos launch for record-breaking space jump, watch right here (update: done!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Felix Baumgartner versus Joe Kittinger Space Jump

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Felix Baumgartner is now scheduled to attempt the record breaking Red Bull Stratos mission on Sunday at 6:30am MTD. We will be again covering the Felix Baumgartner Space Jump live with video. Update...

Red Bull Stratos Skydive Rescheduled for Sunday

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If you’re paying attention to daredevil Felix Baumgartner and his desire to jump out of a pressurized capsule 23 miles above the surface, you may have noticed that he didn’t make the didn’t make the jump earlier this week. Winds were too high early Monday morning when Baumgartner had planned to make his leap. The skydive has now been rescheduled for Sunday.

red bull stratos1

If you somehow missed all the talk about Baumgartner and his insane desire to jump from an altitude of 120,000 feet, I’ll run it down for you again. Baumgartner plans to take the world’s largest helium-filled balloon attached to pressurized capsule on a two-hour trip straight up. He will then depressurize the capsule, and open the door.

I can only assume there’ll be some significant sphincter puckering and shortly thereafter, he will jump. Plummeting through the thin atmosphere at the insanely high altitude, Baumgartner and his team expect that he’ll be able to break the sound barrier using his body only reaching a speed of roughly 690 mph. Luckily for us, Baumgartner will be wearing a specialized pressure suit that offers five cameras to track his progress.

[via MSNBC]


Record-Breaking Skydive Planned for Today

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Today is the big day for daredevil Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team. Assuming the weather holds out, Baumgartner will spend two hours climbing to over 120,000 feet inside his pressurized capsule attached to the world’s largest helium filled balloon. Once Baumgartner reaches his apex at about 23 miles above the Earth’s surface, he will jump.

red bull stratos

The skydive isn’t the only record Baumgartner aims to break. Assuming he succeeds, he will also be making the highest manned balloon flight ever. Baumgartner and his team expect that at the altitude where his descent will begin, he will need to reach 690 mph to break the sound barrier. He will become the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound without an aircraft if all goes according to plan.

Luckily for us, Baumgartner will be wearing multiple cameras on his high-tech pressure suit. Baumgartner has five cameras in various locations on his body that will record footage so we can all watch as he plummets to the ground. Baumgartner’s suit also has a variety of sensors and other technology to allow him to communicate with his ground crew and to verify if he breaks the speed of sound.

You can watch the live broadcast below, or at redbullstratos.com/live.

And while we wait for the weather to clear, you can watch this cool CGI simulation of the dive:


Watch Felix Baumgartner’s space dive live right here at 9:30AM ET (update: more delays)

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Watch Felix Baumgartner's space dive live right here at 930AM ET update more delays

Weather may have delayed Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking "space dive" by another (no doubt torturous) 24 hours, but all going well, the wait is almost over. In just over an hour, proceedings will kick off, and you can watch them live, right here. The latest reports indicated that conditions remain favorable, with the team sending a weather balloon up into the stratosphere earlier this morning. The fun begins at 8:30am eastern, but all you need to do is grab a coffee then head past the break for the live feed.

Update: Pre-flight checks have postponed the set off. Earliest launch is now set for 12:30PM 1:30PM ET.

Update 2: Sorry folks, the launch has been called off due to gusty winds. The team said that tomorrow was a possibility, but until the weather gives way, Felix will remain firmly on the ground.

Continue reading Watch Felix Baumgartner's space dive live right here at 9:30AM ET (update: more delays)

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Watch Felix Baumgartner's space dive live right here at 9:30AM ET (update: more delays) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Felix Baumgartner Space Jump Live Coverage

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Austrian dare devil Felix Baumgartner will attempt to ascend to 120,000 feet in a stratospheric balloon and make a free-fall jump rushing toward earth at supersonic speeds before parachuting to...

Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner’s historic jump from the edge of space

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Leap of faith Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space

BASE jumping might just be about to enter the mainstream. What has typically been considered a fringe activity, reserved for thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies, could soon be firmly cemented in the public view. For the uninitiated, BASE jumping is like skydiving, without the plane. Participants throw themselves off bridges, antennae, buildings, cliffs, and well, whatever high object they can find. It's not illegal, "in theory", but as many of the chosen launch spots are public or private property -- or pose a risk to public safety -- gaining access to, or jumping from them, can mean stepping over the legal line.

This otherwise obstreperous activity has largely kept to itself, occasionally popping up in magazines, or YouTube videos, but -- all going well -- on Monday that changes. Serial boundary pusher (of wing suit across the English Channel fame) Felix Baumgartner is set to leap, in the most literal sense of the word, from relative obscurity into the history books. How? By jumping to earth from the edge of space, likely breaking the sound barrier as he does so. How does one go from humble Austrian beginnings to a capsule 120,000 feet (about 23 miles) above the Earth's surface? Make a comparatively tiny leap past the break to find out.

Continue reading Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space

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Leap of faith: Felix Baumgartner's historic jump from the edge of space originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Giant Balloon to Be Used for Record-Setting Skydive is Thinner Than a Sandwich Bag

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As we already know, daredevil Felix Baumgartner plans to hop in a pressurized capsule and using a gigantic helium balloon, ascend to 23 miles above the surface of the Earth. On October 8th, Baumgartner hopes to set a world record for the highest altitude skydive ever performed. He even plans to break the sound barrier without using an aircraft on his way down.

rb balloon

Some details have surfaced about the gigantic helium-filled balloon that will be used to take Baumgartner and his pressurized capsule to over 120,000 feet above the surface of the Earth. The balloon has a volume of 30 million cubic feet and will be filled with helium. The process of putting in all that helium will take up to an hour. The balloon in the photograph above is a much smaller 128 foot-tall balloon used to carry Baumgartner to altitude of 13 miles above the Earth back in March.

sandwich bag balloon

The balloon to be used for his record-setting jump next week will be a staggering 334 feet-tall. The balloon is incredibly thin at only 0.0008-inch thick. That is 10 times thinner than the baggy you put your sandwich in. Even at that thickness, it still weighs 3708 pounds, and can hold up to 834,497 cubic meters of helium. To put that in perspective, that’s about 280 times more helium than your average hot air balloon.

red bull stratos balloon

You can keep an eye on Felix’s mission over at the Red Bull Stratos website.

[via Wired]


Daredevil Leaps from over 96,000 Feet in the Air

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We’ve been following the antics of Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner for months now. Baumgartner is the daredevil who plans on jumping from over 120,000 feet in the air, setting a world record and becoming the first person to break the speed of sound without an aircraft. Baumgartner has conducted several practice jumps and his latest practice jump came this week.

space jump tb

Baumgartner donned his pressure suit and climbed into a special capsule to take a ride to 96,640 feet above southeastern New Mexico. Once at altitude, the daredevil stepped out of the capsule and plummeted towards the ground reaching a top speed of 536 mph. After freefalling for 3 minutes and 48 seconds, Baumgartner opened his parachute.

Baumgartner was safely back on the ground 10 minutes and 30 seconds after jumping from his capsule. He had encountered a few difficulties on previous practice jumps, but there’s no word of any issues with his latest practice jump at this time. Baumgartner hopes to leap from 125,000 feet in the next month or so.

[via Space.com]