Some things just don't get more radical than this.
the linked article has pictures and video.
get your radical freak on and go look!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... Earth.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/14/us/sk ... index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/08/us/sk ... index.html
http://www.redbullstratos.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/redbull
Faster than the speed of sound: Supersonic skydiver Fearless Felix hits mach 1.24 in terrifying plummet to Earth from 128,000ft
'Fearless Felix' Baumgartner completes astonishing 128,000-foot drop from the top of the stratosphere
Breaks the speed of sound after traveling at mach 1.24
Austrian daredevil had been planning the feat for five years
Previous launches had been delayed due to wind
One tiny error could have resulted in his blood boiling and his brain exploding
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 18:00 EST, 13 October 2012 | UPDATED: 16:45 EST, 14 October 2012
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Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner dropped to Earth from more than 24.5 miles in the air in a historic fall from the edge of space in his attempt to become the world's first supersonic skydiver.
Baumgartner stepped out of a capsule pulled by a 55-story helium balloon after it had reached the height of 127,718 feet.
As he softly landed on Earth with the help of a parachute about five minutes later, Baumgartner raised his hands in victory.
Scroll down to see the jump from leap to landing
On the edge: 'Fearless Felix' pauses before jumping out of the capsule and plummeting back to Earth
On the edge: 'Fearless Felix' pauses before jumping out of the capsule and plummeting back to Earth
One giant leap: Baumgartner begins his free fall after jumping out of his space capsule
One giant leap: Baumgartner begins his free fall after jumping out of his space capsule
Falling down: Baumgartner was expected to hit a speed of 690 mph before activating his parachute about 5,000 above the ground in southeastern New Mexico
Falling down: Baumgartner was expected to hit a speed of 690 mph before activating his parachute about 5,000 above the ground in southeastern New Mexico
'Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are,' an exuberant Baumgartner told reporters outside mission control, shortly after the jump. He was expected to offer more remarks at an afternoon news conference.
Baumgartner was expected to hit a speed of 690 mph before activating his parachute about 5,000 above the ground in southeastern New Mexico.
A member of his team told CNN that he achieved a speed of 833 mph, or mach 1.24 - breaking the speed of sound.
Before sunrise the former Austrian paratrooper's crew began unpacking the 30 million cubic foot helium balloon to hoist the capsule that will carry him 23 miles up in the sky.
Fearless: Baumgartner can be seen falling from the sky during the mission
Fearless: Baumgartner can be seen falling from the sky during the mission
Felix Baumgartner
Felix Baumgartner
Jubilation: Baumgartner celebrates with this crew after completing the jump
The three hour ascent began on Sunday at about 9:30am MDT. The jump was postponed due to wind on Monday, then aborted twice more for the same reason on Tuesady and Thursday. Meteorologists say conditions will finally be favorable for the jump Sunday morning.
Any contact with the capsule on his exit could have torn his pressurized suit, a rip that could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as minus-70 degrees. That could have caused lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids.
But none of that happened. He activated his parachute as he neared Earth, gently gliding into the desert east of Roswell and landing without any apparent difficulty.
The images triggered another loud cheer from onlookers at mission control, among them his mother, Eva Baumgartner, who was overcome with emotion, crying.
He then was taken by helicopter to meet fellow members of his team, whom he hugged in celebration.
Top of the world: Felix Baumgartner steps out of his capsule after reaching a height of nearly 128,000 feet above Earth
Top of the world: Felix Baumgartner steps out of his capsule after reaching a height of nearly 128,000 feet above Earth
Stepping out: Felix Baumgartner's feet can be seen outside the capsule as he prepares to jump from the edge of space
Stepping out: Felix Baumgartner's feet can be seen outside the capsule as he prepares to jump from the edge of space
Chute: Baumgartner floats down to the ground with the help of a parachute after the successful leap
Chute: Baumgartner floats down to the ground with the help of a parachute after the successful leap
The balloon is so delicate that it can take off only if winds on the ground are 2 mph or less.
Checking through an equipment list from his seat in the pressurized capsule, Baumgartner, 43, expressed concern that his astronaut-like helmet was not heating properly.
'This is very serious, Joe,' said Baumgartner as the capsule, designed to remain at 55 degrees Fahrenheit ascended in skies where temperatures were expected to plunge below -91.8 F (-67.8 C), according to the project's website. 'Sometimes it's getting foggy when I exhale. ... I do not feel heat.'
Baumgartner was disappointed 'like the rest of us' but taking a couple of days of critical downtime, his high-performance athletic trainer, Andy Walshe, said Wednesday.
Team meteorologist Don Day noted during a media briefing at the Roswell launch site that weather delays are common in stratospheric ballooning.
Nailed it: Baumgartner takes a moment to reflect after a safe landing, thanks to his parachute
Nailed it: Baumgartner takes a moment to reflect after a safe landing, thanks to his parachute
Grounded: Baumgartner raises his hands in the air after a safe landing from 24 and a half miles above the earth
Grounded: Baumgartner raises his hands in the air after a safe landing from 24 and a half miles above the earth
Pride: Members of Baumgartner's family watch triumphantly as he completes the jump
Pride: Members of Baumgartner's family watch triumphantly as he completes the jump
Mission control: The members of Baumgartner's team keep an eye on the extreme skydiver as he ascends further and further above Earth
Mission control: The members of Baumgartner's team keep an eye on the extreme skydiver as he ascends further and further above Earth
As Baumgartner dropped, his lead team member Joe Kittinger told him: 'Our guardian angel will take care of you.'
Kittinger first attempted to break the sound barrier from 19.5 miles up in 1960, reaching speed of 614 mph. He was the only member of mission control who could communicate directly with Baumgartner during the nearly three-hour ascent in a pressurized capsule.
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Kittinger said his 1960 jump, the first attempt to break the sound barrier, also was delayed by weather. He leapt from a helium balloon-floated, open-air gondola from an altitude of 19.5 miles.
'I was ready to go and had to wait,' Kittinger said at the briefing. 'It's frustrating. But you have to go through it. What you see is what you get.'
Kittinger reached 614 mph, or Mach 0.9. Baumgartner, a former military parachutist from Austria, hopes to reach 690 mph, or Mach 1 - faster than the speed of sound.
Predecessor: Joe Kittinger, who held the previous record for a freefall to Earth, cheers as Baumgartner completed his jump
Predecessor: Joe Kittinger, who held the previous record for a freefall to Earth, cheers as Baumgartner completed his jump
Baumgartner Baumgartner
Lift: Baumgartner is pictured right with crew members before the launch, and in his capsule as it's pulled skyward by a sophisticated weather balloon, left
Time to go to work: Baumgartner is pictured on Sunday stepping out of a trailer in preparation for his ascent into the edge of space
Time to go to work: Baumgartner is pictured on Sunday stepping out of a trailer in preparation for his ascent into the edge of space
Away we go: Felix Baumgartner is lifted into the air by a massive balloon, the first step in his major jump
Away we go: Felix Baumgartner is lifted into the air by a massive balloon, the first step in his major jump
Kittinger also was involved in the Air Force's Excelsior project, making a series of parachute jumps from helium balloons in the stratosphere in 1959 and 1960. Excelsior was a test bed for the nation's space program. With one balloon flight, 'we waited 30 days and we never got it off,' Kittinger said.
The energy drink maker Red Bull, which is sponsoring the feat, has been promoting a live Internet stream of the event from nearly 30 cameras on the capsule, the ground and a helicopter.
But organizers said there will be a 20-second delay in their broadcast of footage in case of a tragic accident.
After the jump, Baumgartner says he plans to settle down with his girlfriend and fly helicopters on mountain rescue and firefighting missions in the U.S. and Austria.
Baumgartner's team had hoped to make the launch in the summer, when there is less wind, but was forced to delay it until October because of problems with the capsule.
One of the disappointments of Tuesday's aborted launch was losing the balloon. The balloons are so fragile that once they are taken out of the box, they cannot be reused. The team has one more balloon. Team members said they are looking for a backup, but that could take four weeks or more.
As he ascended high above the earth, Baumgartner took to Twitter to greet his fans from space.
He tweeted: 'Live from space! World you are beautiful.'
Keeping in touch: Baumgartner shouted out to his fans on Twitter, from more than 100,000 feet above earth
Keeping in touch: Baumgartner shouted out to his fans on Twitter, from more than 100,000 feet above earth
Art Thompson, the project's technical director, said there likely would be windows in the weather for making the jump through November, but declined to speculate on long-term plans beyond that.
The jump is being sponsored by energy drink maker Red Bull. The costs have not been disclosed.
But Thompson said on Wednesday the balloons cost several hundred thousand dollars each, and he estimated the team lost $60,000 to $70,000 in helium with the aborted jump.
Weather conditions at the Roswell launch site caused Tuesday's delay as Baumgartner's three-hour ascent in a high-altitude balloon cannot start unless ground wind speeds are below two miles an hour.
The record-breaking attempt had been scheduled to begin at 11.30am but the launch was called off at 11.46am local time.
Meteorologists said Wednesday morning should have provide ideal weather conditions for the Austrian as he attempts to become the first human to break the sound barrier unaided by a vehicle.
However, when the Austrian finally entered the capsule just before 11am MDT, the crews discovered that winds 700 feet above the ground, at the top of the balloon, were 20 mph, which was far above the safe limit of 3 mph.
High flying: Felix Baumgartner can be seen high above New Mexico shortly after beginning his ascent
High flying: Felix Baumgartner can be seen high above New Mexico shortly after beginning his ascent
After the flight was postponed for the second time in as many days, some openly wondered whether there was a deliberate attempt by the Red Bull Stratos team to build suspense.
Sources close to Red Bull have allegedly said that the jump was never intended to occur before tomorrow to ensure 'maximum coverage' and must take place before 6pm in Europe to hit newspaper deadline times on the continent.
During weekend practices, Baumgartner went over the technical details in the capsule before sitting solemnly in his trailer, wearing his specially designed $200,000 suit, to gather his thoughts.
Red Bull Stratos announced on Friday that the jump had been moved from Monday to Tuesday due to a cold front with gusty winds.
Coincidentally, Sunday also marks the 65th anniversary of U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager's successful attempt to become the first man to officially break the sound barrier aboard an airplane.
Finishing touches: Felix Baumgartner is prepped for the historic skydive today
Finishing touches: Felix Baumgartner is prepped for the historic skydive today
Baumgartner plans to travel faster than the speed of sound with only the benefit of a high-tech suit.
Dr. Jonathan Clark, Baumgartner's medical director, has told reporters he expects the pressurized spacesuit to protect him from the shock waves of breaking the sound barrier.
If all goes well and he survives the jump, NASA could certify a new generation of spacesuits for protecting astronauts and provide an escape option from spacecraft at 120,000 feet, he said.
Any contact with the capsule on his exit could tear the pressurized suit. A rip could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as 70 degrees below zero. It could cause potentially lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids, a condition known as "boiling blood."
The nightmare scenario that Felix’s project director likens to a ‘horror film’ would involve his blood boiling, brain bursting and eyeballs popping out - all of it watched live via the internet around the globe.
This may sound like the sort of lunatic feat that no one but a man who has spent 20 years at the more extreme end of extreme sports would want anything to do with.
But a team of engineers, doctors and pilots have spent five years working alongside Baumgartner, 43, to ensure he gets down alive and in one piece.
Banishing talk of nerves, he says he would never jump if the odds were against him. And he insists he didn’t have a death wish.
Of the skeptics who will be holding their hands in front of their eyes as he hurtles towards Earth at nearly 700mph, he says simply: ‘I think they underestimate the skills of a skydiver.’
Fearless Felix has been flinging himself out of planes and off skyscrapers for years.
Sunrise skydive: Workers prepare at the launch site, ahead of an attempt by Felix Baumgartner to break the speed of sound with his own body by jumping from a space capsule lifted by a helium balloon
Sunrise skydive: Workers prepare at the launch site, ahead of an attempt by Felix Baumgartner to break the speed of sound with his own body by jumping from a space capsule lifted by a helium balloon
He has clocked up 2,500 skydiving jumps, including one in which he became the first person to 'fly' across the English Channel, with carbon-fibre wings strapped to his back.
He has performed various horrifying ‘base jumps’, freefalling off the Christ statue in Rio and leaping head-first into a pitch black, 620ft-deep cave in Croatia.
Baumgartner has said that the supersonic plunge will be the end of his 'journey' as a daredevil.
Rising: Baumgartner's capsule is lifted by a giant weather balloon
Rising: Baumgartner's capsule is lifted by a giant weather balloon
Ahead of his grand finale, he has completed a couple of high-altitude dress rehearsals. In July, he leapt from 96,640ft - just 6,000ft shy of a world record set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, a U.S. air force test pilot.
The grandfather of stratosphere skydiving, 84-year-old Colonel Kittinger became Baumgartner’s mentor and was the voice he heard in his headset as he communicates with mission control before and during the jump.
‘You can feel in your stomach and every part of your body that it does not want to be there,’ said the Austrian, a former military parachutist, laconically.
Baumgartner's body was encased in a specially designed $200,000 spacesuit. It has an insulating exterior that can withstand extreme temperatures, and an airtight inner layer filled with pressurised oxygen.
It also has one crucial difference to the spacesuits worn by astronauts, which is that it remains highly flexible when it is fully pressurised.
Baumgartner’s visor is fitted with an intensely powerful heat regulator that should keep his view free of fog and frost.
The suit’s 12lb chest pack contains monitoring and tracking equipment together with a voice transmitter so he can talk to mission control on the way down. The pack is connected to a device on his wrist that allows him to monitor his speed and altitude.
The capsule in which he’ll make his ascent is 11ft high and 8ft in diameter, made from fibreglass strengthened by an internal metal frame, and weighs as much as a Volkswagen Beetle.
It was designed by some of the scientists who created the U.S. stealth bomber and is based on the famous Nasa Apollo rocket, but with a few key design differences.
The exit hatch is bigger for a start, designed to prevent the sort of catastrophe that befell Soviet high-altitude sky diver Pyotr Dolgov in 1962. Struggling to leave his capsule in his cumbersome spacesuit, Dolgov cracked his visor slightly on the door.
He was dead by the time he landed, a victim of ebullism, the terrifying condition in which the drastically lower air pressure above 62,000ft makes liquids in the body start to bubble and vaporise, inflating the body and bringing unconsciousness within 15 seconds.
When inflated, it is as high as a 55-story building with a volume of 30 million cubic feet.
Preparation: A spotlight illuminates the capsule from which Felix Baumgartner will jump for the world record skydive
Preparation: A spotlight illuminates the capsule from which Felix Baumgartner will jump for the world record skydive
Made from strengthened plastic, it is a tenth of the thickness of a sandwich bag. Baumgartner has limited space to move around in the capsule and the balloon will be largely steered remotely from mission control down on the ground.
When it reaches the jumping height of 120,000ft three times the altitude at which airliners fly - he will look out on a black rather than blue daytime sky while he waits for the final ‘clear to jump’ message from mission control.
At that point, he will depressurise the capsule, pressurise his suit and open the exit door (the capsule will later automatically detach from the balloon and parachute back to Earth).
Out of the gate: Baumgartner steps out from his trailer during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos
Out of the gate: Baumgartner steps out from his trailer during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos
The remote New Mexican town is, of course, famous for a rumored UFO crash landing in 1947.
On Twitter, half the worldwide trending topics had something to do with the jump, pushing past seven NFL football games.
Among the tweets was one from NASA: 'Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner and RedBull Stratos on record-breaking leap from the edge of space!'
This attempt marked the end of a five-year road for Baumgartner, a record-setting high-altitude jumper. He already made two preparation jumps in the area, one from 15 miles high and another from 18 miles high.
It will also be the end of his extreme altitude jumping career; he has promised this will be his final jump.
Baumgartner has said he plans to settle down with his girlfriend and fly helicopters on mountain rescue and firefighting missions in the U.S. and Austria.
