Author Topic: Red Bull Stratos Mission  (Read 19741 times)

Offline Echnaton

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Red Bull Stratos Mission
« on: October 09, 2012, 12:16:46 PM »
Anyone else watching the Stratos balloon mission?  After a delay for weather, the broadcast is set restart at 11:00 am local time MDT or 17:00 GMT, a little less than an hour from now.  If all goes well today, Felix Baumgartner will become the first human to pass the sound barrier in free fall. If it goes badly then...?

The last update said the balloon was being laid out.  The actual launch time and when the dive is supposed to occur should be available during the broadcast. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vkJ5ItzEq3M#!

ETA the schedule has launch at 11:15 MDT 55 minutes from this edit time.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2012, 12:20:40 PM by Echnaton »
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2012, 01:39:08 PM »
The program is now live.  The balloon is upright and they are preparing for launch.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2012, 01:46:00 PM »
It is off for today, maybe tomorrow.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline ChrLz

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2012, 04:57:32 PM »
Going a little offtopic, is anyone else a little perturbed by the use of the sponsors name in front of the event, especially given the nature of the item being sponsored?  I may be a bit old school, but I really dislike the product and the way it is marketed to a very gullible, naive and eager-to-be-cool audience.

As for the event, it's fascinating and I'm very keen to see what transpires.

Just not so keen on helping to promote caffeine/stimulant loaded drinks.

Offline cjameshuff

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2012, 05:14:55 PM »
An extreme sports event is promoting the energy drink maker that sponsored it. I really don't see what's unusual or disturbing about this.

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2012, 09:20:48 PM »
I am with you, ChrLz.  I find it off putting that almost everything in the world is a reason to sell me something.  I really hate being sold to and it always devalues the experience for me.    I wonder what the Apollo program would look like today.  Instead of Armstrong saying, "Houston, Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed," would he have started by saying, "Red Bull Control...?"

But if we want to have people do this sort of exotic stuff somebody has to pay for it. The good sometimes comes with the bad.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline cjameshuff

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2012, 09:30:15 PM »
A guy's doing a stunt to set some records. This is hardly Apollo. Nor is it new for people doing such things to offer advertisement rights in return for funding.

I think it's nice to see a company finding ways to increase brand awareness without annoying ads. Even if by all accounts the stuff they sell tastes awful...

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2012, 09:59:48 PM »
To me, the whole thing is an annoying ad but that doesn't stop me from watching it for the adventure.  I can take my money elsewhere. 
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline LunarOrbit

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Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2012, 09:11:52 AM »
They're trying again today. It's a perfect date to do it too... exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the X-1.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2012, 09:42:26 AM »
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2012, 11:09:26 AM »
How's this for a theory? Felix Baumgartner is going to launch in his balloon today from Roswell, New Mexico (yeah, that Roswell). What if he enters some kind of time portal that sends him back to the same location in the summer of 1947 where he and his balloon/capsule crash? The Air Force finds him in his spacesuit inside a pressurized vehicle of unknown origins, made from materials they can't identify. OMG! Felix Baumgartner is the Roswell alien! ;)
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline Andromeda

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2012, 12:24:58 PM »
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov.

Offline smartcooky

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2012, 02:36:14 PM »
How's this for a theory? Felix Baumgartner is going to launch in his balloon today from Roswell, New Mexico (yeah, that Roswell). What if he enters some kind of time portal that sends him back to the same location in the summer of 1947 where he and his balloon/capsule crash? The Air Force finds him in his spacesuit inside a pressurized vehicle of unknown origins, made from materials they can't identify. OMG! Felix Baumgartner is the Roswell alien! ;)


And..... attached to...... A BALLOON!!!!
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2012, 02:39:58 PM »
I'm disappointed that my theory was wrong... unless of course the time portal was also an inter-dimensional bridge and it was another Felix Baumgartner that crashed in Roswell in 1947.

It was nice to see "our" Felix land on his feet though. :)
« Last Edit: October 14, 2012, 02:41:44 PM by LunarOrbit »
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Red Bull Stratos Mission
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2012, 04:47:59 PM »
Baumgartener made mach 1.24.  An amazing feet.

The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett