Parachuting from 23 miles up.

[Chimera]

@runner pat

Brass provides little cushioning.

But when balls like that hit the Earth, the Earth apologizes.

[Musicat]

@Crafter_Man

We he landed, he laded on his balls. They’re so big that they acted as an airbag.

We he indeed! Whee!

Balls-laded!

[JKellyMap]

@gardentraveler

I’m still in awe. I thought the most amazing view was from right before he jumped. They showed a glimpse of his view and it was…there are no words.

Agreed. I can’t get that image out of my head. I just cannot imagine the feeling. Like looking down from a high dive…times about a thousand!

[cerberus]

The next thing will have to be the Starship Trooper Marauder capsule/suit thing:

The guy inserts from orbit, ensconced in a multilayered egg. Layers of the egg burn and/or are blown off, until all that is left is the guy and his chute rig.

[AaronX]

Are there any replays of the jump, especially from his point of view? The only video I can find on the Redbull site seems to be a compilation.

I wonder - how many people would be willing to make that jump? I saw a story about someone who floated up using only balloons and a harness - I bet they would volunteer.

[Clarisse_McClellan]

Replay is here

[Lantern]

Some interesting tidbits from that Telegraph page:

He said he considered aborting the mission twice. Once while in the capsule when his visor became to fog up because of the coldness of his breath. He explained: “At a certain time it looked like this was going to be mission abort. On our checklist of things we had this as a mission abort; if you cannot see anything you cannot leave the capsule.” The second time was at the beginning of the fall when he went into an uncontrollable spin. Baumgartner had a button which would activate a parachute which would arrest his spin but would mean that he could break no speed records.

Quote from Felix:

That spin became so violent it was hard to know how to get out of it. I was able to get it under control and break the speed of sound.

Brian Utley, of FAI certification, is going through some of the numbers, which are even more impressive than we originally thought.

Lets break them down:

Exit altitude: 128,100ft

Freefall time 4 minutes 20 seconds

Freefall distance 119,846ft

Velocity 373metres per second or 833.9mph - which is Mach 1.24

That’s even faster than we thought. He didn’t just break speed of sound. He smashed it. Even Felix looked surprised by the speed he was travelling at when the numbers were announced.

I was wondering about this because it wasn’t clear from the live feed but he obliterated the sound barrier.
Quote from Felix:

I know the whole world is watching right now and I wish the world could see what I can see. Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are.

I can’t wait for that BBC documentary !

[Spoons]

@AaronX

Are there any replays of the jump, especially from his point of view?

It may not have been from his point of view, but I did see (on the night’s sports report), the remote camera on the capsule show him get out of the capsule, settle himself on the step, then gently roll forward off the step into his fall. You should be able to find this on YouTube.

Migosh, that took nerve. He was so high, that one of the cameras showed the curvature of the earth. I’m glad to hear that he survived–well done, Felix Baumgartner!

[Elendil_s_Heir]

CNN.com’s coverage of the feat, including a brief interview with Baumgartner (I think Mark Wahlberg will have to play him in the movie): http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/14/us/skydiver-record-attempt/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

There’s a Lego for that: - YouTube

[Dr_Doom]

I love the human race.

I envision someday in the far-flung future, when man finally devises a way to visit other planets, our astronauts discovering a civilization with intelligent life.

Imagine the surprise our emissaries will feel, when the alien inhabitants go to great lengths to hurl themselves into active volcanoes, just to see if they can survive it.

[Larry_Mudd]

@AaronX

Are there any replays of the jump, especially from his point of view?

Not the whole jump, but some pretty spectacular POV footage here.

[gardentraveler]

Slate embedded a video in an article as well.

[Steve_MB]

Andrea Mitchell reports a bit of truly remarkable news:

“FEARLESS FELIX” TRAVELED FASTER THAN SPEED OF LIGHT

:dubious: :smack: :eek: :smack: :smack:

[Der_Trihs]

@Steve_MB

Andrea Mitchell reports a bit of truly remarkable news:

“FEARLESS FELIX” TRAVELED FASTER THAN SPEED OF LIGHT

:dubious: :smack: :eek: :smack: :smack:

Yeah, I’m hearing a lot of joking about that on other forums. “All that research and speculation on how to break lightspeed, and it turns out all we had to do is drop an Austrian off a balloon.”

It’s not a unique mistake though.

[Malacandra]

@Der_Trihs

Yeah, I’m hearing a lot of joking about that on other forums. “All that research and speculation on how to break lightspeed, and it turns out all we had to do is drop an Austrian off a balloon.”

It’s not a unique mistake though.

18 times the speed of light? That’s somewhere nearer Warp Three than Warp Two, isn’t it?

[user_hostile]

Journalism and scientific literacy go together like…like…hmm…ah, I ain’t got nothing.

[running_coach]

@Steve_MB

Andrea Mitchell reports a bit of truly remarkable news:

“FEARLESS FELIX” TRAVELED FASTER THAN SPEED OF LIGHT

:dubious: :smack: :eek: :smack: :smack:

That explains why he didn’t age during the drop.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Bumped.

A followup:

Felix Baumgartner: 10 years on, the man who fell to Earth is still awed by...

[pjd]

I didn’t know someone had broken his record !

Alan Eustace