Red Bull Stratos 36.5km, 1,100km/h free-fall Tues night

[gary]

The countdown is currently 3 days, 7 hours, 45 minutes to Felix Baumgartner's
record breaking free-fall attempt, which should correspond to Tuesday night
here in Australia.

Baumgartner plans to jump from a balloon from 35.5km and free-fall head-first
in a space suit to become the first human to accelerate through the speed of
sound without the protection of a vehicle.

The mission, known as the Red Bull Stratos, will include live video streaming from
35 cameras. On hand and acting as mentor to Baumgartner is 83-year-old
Joe Kittinger who jumped from 31.3km 52 years ago. Kittinger is officially
acting as flight operations manager and Baumgartner and the Stratos team plan
to break Kittinger's 1960 records for the highest and longest free-fall and highest manned
balloon flight.

More information is available here on the official Stratos mission web site -
http://www.redbullstratos.com/

[Ric]

Thanks for the link Gary

That's definitely one to watch on Tuesday night.

[MrB]

That will be awesome to watch.
Very fortunate that it will be during our night, saves me trying to watch it on the sly at work ;)

[michaellxv]

There's a program on 7Mate tonight about it.

[gary]

If missing the last step on the ladder when coming down from the eyepiece gives
you a little fright, well that's nothing! :lol:

10 hours and counting down.

Weather predicted to be clear at Roswell with winds at 2.4km/h.

Live video coverage will be here -
http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/

[GrahamL]

I recall watching some of the earlier attempts , thinking thats so high you could miss a continent;)

[Octane]

This is going to be amazing.

Been waiting for this since I saw him on TED.

H

[scagman]

Will be great to see. Hope he can brake the sound barrier.

Live coverage on CH73 Mate. @ 23:15.

Enjoy.:D

[gary]

Thanks for the heads-up that it will be on free to air television as well.

The ascent is estimated to take "less than 3 hours". Once the "clear to jump"
go ahead is given, Baumgartner will depressurize the capsule, detach his hoses and
then jump head down.

[gary]

A little over an hour to the live broadcast.

Whilst waiting ...

Here is the original article that appeared in the November 1960 National Geographic
by Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., USAF of his record making jump -
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121008-joseph-kittinger-felix-baumgartner-skydive-science/

[gary]

Weather hold. Earliest launch 13:30 UTC (00:30 AEDT - NSW, VIC).

[Octane]

Ugh. We're going to be up all night.

H

[MrB]

Yeah I was up all night working last night, dunno if I can do it again :(

[Octane]

I'll watch the repeats later. Need sleep!

H

[MrB]

Just saw a ticker-tape message scroll across the bottom of the screen on 7Mate... 4:30am AEDT, bah.
Bed time for me now.

[Octane]

Lame.

Cheers, Simon.

H

[ourkind]

After lenghty delays the winds have died down and they've begun to lay out the balloon ...

[Octane]

It starts in 3 minutes.

H

[Octane]

Aborted.

Wind picked up.

H

[ourkind]

Wow the balloon is spent ... sensitive stuff hey?

[Octane]

Yes, how frustrating.

They've got one spare.

I wonder what happens if the second attempt is also aborted?

Would they give up or invest in more balloons?

Can anyone explain why they can't redeploy the same balloon?

H

[mithrandir]

H, they said early on in the broadcast that the balloon has to be so thin (to conserve weight?) that it can easily be damaged so I guess they wouldn't want to risk packing it and unpacking it again.

[troypiggo]

Danny Deckchair did it with normal helium balloons and a deck chair. Just sayin... :)

[gary]

Second attempt will take place 23:00 AEDT (NSW, Vic) Sunday 14 October.

[inline_online]

BUMP

This is (hopefully) happening in about 4hrs time.
Please please please let it be a wind-free day in Roswell.

[ourkind]

Definitely watching this space again!

[mithrandir]

Coverage on 73.
Latest info - suited up, balloon rolled out, in a weather hold, launch not before 01:30 AEDT.

[Octane]

Oh, you're kidding. Damn.

H

[gary]

Baumgartner strapped in.

Here's hoping that the wind will be calm enough in an hour and a half's time.

Live images -
http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/

[ourkind]

Felix is strapped in, helmet visor down and waiting...

[mithrandir]

Inflation started!!!!!!

[ourkind]

Liftoff!

[badabing82]

lifffttofff....!!!!
looks like it's show timeeee!

[Octane]

How awesome.

H

[MrB]

7 Mate's 'live' coverage here in WA appears to be 3 hours delayed. There are so many choice words I want to say right now.

[MrB]

Yay, web live feed seems to be working for me now. Was buffering pretty bad for me a while ago.

Been moving my WiMax gateway around and got it going just in time to hear:
"Stand by, I've screwed up. Hold-on"
haha

[JB80]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrIxH6DToXQ&feature=player_embedded#

Is a good stream too if the other fails.

[bigscope]

yeah good feed here on 7mate sunshine coast

[Danack]

Just crossed 120k feet - slightly surprised they haven't already depressurised the capsule, in case he needs to get ASAP.

[ourkind]

Jeronimoooooooo

[Octane]

omg, this is frightening to watch the final moments.

H

[iceman]

Amazing view!

[Octane]

Wow!!!!!!

[Octane]

Wait, did he just fail to break the record by 17 seconds!?

H

[iceman]

I know, what the!?!?
Pulled too early!

[Octane]

Just imagine what was going through his mind as Joe was reading the last few instructions. He was taking so much time with the last few steps.

Balls of steel.

H

[iceman]

When it was time to jump though, he just went!

[h0ughy]

how excellent was that - talk about brave what a view looking down

[h0ughy]

i reckon he planned not to break that freefall record so that the original guy still had something but i am sure he broke the speed record

[Octane]

I will never forget seeing him jump for as long as I live.

I'm sure whatever he said just prior, which was muffled, would have been profound and moving, too.

Can't wait to read the news ensuing from this.

Was a privilege to watch live.

What awesome times we live in.

H

[MrB]

I think he was more interested in breaking the speed of sound? He was head down, minimal drag and going for it.
Not sure but I reckon he would have needed more altitude to get both those records.
Or forego the speed, fall level with limbs out, lots of drag for duration record.

Edit: I could have sworn at one point during freefall, he said he felt like he was going to pass out.

[Octane]

He did say that. He was tumbling and twirling for ages.

H

[iceman]

He looked like a ragdoll at first - looked scary!

[iceman]

Great replay of the final few minutes before jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT1DhcQg0Os

and then the descent.

[gary]

I watched it with the sound turned off which made it more of a struggle
to keep the eyes open during ascent as the altitude numbers kept
ticking over and over.

Without the benefit of hearing the commentary, it was worrying seeing the
phase Baumgartner entered the spin. Like Mike said, he looked like a rag doll
for a while.

The cameras did well to follow most of the way. Amazing!

[Danack]

I think he had a smaller drogue chute to allow him to get to a higher speed.

[erick]

"A large leap for a man, a very small step for mankind" :D

[Ric]

That has to be one of the most amazing things I have seen.

He is one brave chap

[gary]

A story in the Sydney Morning Herald today includes an interview with
Felix Baumgartner where he discusses how "terrifying" the spin was. Even before
the mission, the Red Bull Stratos web site had highlighted that one of the
biggest dangers for Felix would be getting into an uncontrollable spin.
If the forces became high enough, the blood pressure to the head could
cause a blackout and potentially death.

Story here including video that shows glimpses from the suit CAM -
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/i-was-terrified-it-was-like-hell-reveals-fearless-felix-as-he-relives-death-spin-fall-20121016-27nrj.html

[Clarry]

It seems this American TV station got it a bit wrong. They think he was travelling at more than 300,000 m/s
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/Zempire_bucket/Felix.jpg

[Octane]

lol, newbz.

H