It matters if you're the one who's paying, clearly. I don't quite take your meaning, Draug. My comment about him getting someone else to pay for it was a compliment. As was me saying it was a notable achievement and worthy of respect. I am not anti-Felix. I am just somewhat dismayed that he is getting quite so many plaudits as he is when what he did was done primarily to forfill his own desire for entertainment and his part in it wasn't half as hard as people are making it out to be.

Red Bull paid, sure, but the advertising they got was worth every penny.

It's a bit of an aside, but if it does it will amaze me. I never understood how Red Bull advertising themselves using this, as well as the x-fighters (very good), the air races (also very good), two formula one teams (one of which is very good), their TV, Internet and radio campaigns and various other bits and bobs (Bird Man Competitions etc) can get around the fact that their drink tastes of shite and will put hairs on the chest of a Miss World contestant. How the hell do they get enough of a return on that sort of investment?

Are people really that stupid?

Yes.

I got through the hazing rituals at my University with a stock of red-bull in my bags though. This is quite possibly why I was reprimanded no less than three times :-)

@ Speaker to Aliens

I like how you posted the first reply two hours after you posted the thread. It's ridiculous that he was up for that long.
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I'm kind of pissed that he broke old Colonel Joe Kittinger's record. I could be wrong but didn't Colonel Kittinger provide technical assistance and counseling to Felix?

If Kittinger supported him, why be pissed on his behalf?

I like Red Bull. Your taste varies from mine, obviously. But clearly enough people like the stuff (like me) that they make money.

Thankyou Gunfighter06. I was surprised how long it took for his ascent, I'd thought he'd go up quicker.

Joe Kittinger provided technical assistance for the project and he was the older guy (he's 84) who was CAPCOM (capsule communicator) for Baumgartner the whole time he was in the air.

P.S. I like Red Bull, especially if it's got some vodka in it. ;-)

@ Alderian

I'm not actually upset. It's just always a shame when American records get beaten. Colonel Kittinger was assisting him because the Colonel is a nice guy and the whole thing was in the name of science and Red Bull.
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I liked Red Bull back when I drank caffeine. It has more kick than a Mountain Dew and less kick than a Monster, so it's the perfect beverage. I also feel sophisticated as hell when I drink it.

I act like a wide-awake drunk when I drink it, or so I'm told. ;-)

Somebody someday was going to break the record. If there had been an equipment malfunction then this would have been the most widely watched death in years.

I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I have a feeling it's a little tough to try a freefall from anywhere higher than the bottom of space. Who is breaking that one?

You say that as if the phrase "bottom of space" has any real meaning. There's no such place. The atmosphere just keeps on getting thinner as you go up, and Earth's gravity will be enough to pull you in the right direction for countless more miles. A balloon can only get you a little bit higher, granted, but swap a balloon for a satelite with a cable dangling below it (sort of like a space elevator that doesn't go all the way down) and the world's gravity well is your oyster.

Hell, get a suit that can support you well enough and you can just jump off the damned satelite. Although we then get stuck in the "is it a suit or a ship?" debate...

@ Randomizer

All good points. I just hope Colonel Kittinger keeps his rightful place in history.

@ Octavious

Above some altitude the friction from the thickening air would burn up the jumper, right?

The key to the friction burning is that in a thinner atmosphere, terminal.velocity is Mich faster so you actually start to slow as yoi drop into thickrr atmosphere. That is caused by friction and results in heat build up.

Quite so. One could imagine some sort of set up that could get around this, possibly with the faller "surfing" on some sort of heat shield (in my mind this looks a bit like some upside down handglider, though that almost certainly wouldn't work), but who knows? Maybe they'll just have a suit that can take that sort of heat, although that would be a rather dull way of doing it...

Give it 50 years and we'll find out :)

@ Draugnar

You're right. I didn't consider terminal velocity. A man with a parachute jumping from a balloon is going to have less force and speed (and more air resistance) than a capsule returning from space.

"One could imagine some sort of set up that could get around this, possibly with the faller "surfing" on some sort of heat shield..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=luaRtGn2tsI#t=444s

This is from the end of the film "Dark Star", a '70's SciFii comedy. The link jumps in to the last few seconds of the clip. You should watch the whole clip though. Actually, get the whole film and watch that instead. It's truly worth a few hours of your time.

I was wondering if someone else recognized the end of Dark Star in that.

There's only us Old Gits likely to have seen it Draug, especially the first time around <sigh>. Hell, it's so old it even pre-dates Star Wars IV.

Perhaps they should remake it now, along with "Silent Running".

Ah, Silent Running... The movie whose trio of robots inspired Lucas to create R2D2.

Next time he should do it with a bungee cable attached (overheard on "Have I Got news For You").