Felix Baumgartner No Big Deal

fasttalkerchat

When this was on TV I thought it was just because of the sponsorship and something lighthearted to fill the news with.
But, people took it seriously, I didn't realise I'm the only one who thought it was nothing special. People skydive all the time, skydiving from a lower altitude is actually harder than a higher altitude.
Okay, he broke a world record. But, there was no scientific or human achievement like the Moon or Mars landings.

T-K-O

I thought it was a big deal until I found out some guy made the same jump 20/30 years ago.

With the technology available today his jump was a walk in the park

shedweller

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

T-K-O wrote: »

I thought it was a big deal until I found out some guy made the same jump 20/30 years ago.

With the technology available today his jump was a walk in the park

Ya reckon? :rolleyes:

fasttalkerchat

Boringgggg...

T-K-O wrote: »

I thought it was a big deal until I found out some guy made the same jump 20/30 years ago.

With the technology available today his jump was a walk in the park

His suit was nowhere near as good so he nearly died... pretty much anyone could do the jump... the suit was the achievement.

T-K-O

shedweller wrote: »

Ya reckon? :rolleyes:

:rolleyes: Compared to the original jump, yes :rolleyes:

Xavi6

It registered a massive 'meh' on my level of interest scale.

T-K-O

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

His suit was nowhere near as good so he nearly died... pretty much anyone could do the jump... the suit was the achievement.

It takes a lotta balls to make that jump but like I said, less impressive when some dude makes the same jump in the 60/70's

shedweller

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

T-K-O wrote: »

It takes a lotta balls to make that jump but like I said, less impressive when some dude makes the same jump in the 60/70's

In fairness, that is true. We haven't really advanced a whole lot since then. Sure, we have a lot of cool gadgets now but i don't see any interstellar spaceships floating about!

Maybe it's because our lives are pitifully short, maybe it's because we are broke paying propping up failed banks etc.
In an ideal world............(wishful thinking!)

T-K-O

shedweller wrote: »

In fairness, that is true. We haven't really advanced a whole lot since then. Sure, we have a lot of cool gadgets now but i don't see any interstellar spaceships floating about!

Maybe it's because our lives are pitifully short, maybe it's because we are broke paying propping up failed banks etc.
In an ideal world............(wishful thinking!)

I'd settle for a hover board

Let us compare a computer processor from the 60's to 00' - now that's progression.

NASA came up with a new suit (with go faster stripes)

Diageio_Man

Boringgggg...

red bull are some marketing company in fairness.

fasttalkerchat

Boringgggg...

Diageio_Man wrote: »

red bull are some marketing company in fairness.

Yourselves are pretty sharp too!

iDave

Not really, but nice to watch

Mars landings. When did this happen?

fred funk }{

Thought it was very impressive TBH. The documentary was on a couple of weeks ago and it was a great watch. Made me realise just how awesome the whole thing was.

It takes balls of steel to do something like that and it's certainly not something some of the keyboard warriors in here would attempt.

LuckyLloyd

Not really, but nice to watch

Dude does a free fall from the stratosphere and breaks the speed of sound on the way down. People on the Internet go 'meh'. Good lads.

seven_eleven

Boringgggg...

It's not really that impressive when you look at this and see that he didnt jump from that much of a height at all. People had you almost believing he was in bloody space with the way they talked. And of course, the fish eye camera to make it look like the earth was smaller :rolleyes:

(He jumped from 39km height)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Atmosphere_layers-en.svg

Maximus Alexander

Boringgggg...

seven_eleven wrote: »

It's not really that impressive when you look at this and see that he didnt jump from that much of a height at all. People had you almost believing he was in bloody space with the way they talked. And of course, the fish eye camera to make it look like the earth was smaller :rolleyes:

(He jumped from 39km height)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Atmosphere_layers-en.svg

Yep, he wasn't even half way to "space".

I wasn't particularly impressed. Sure, it took balls of steel to do the jump, but there are plenty of people out there with enough balls if they had the opportunity.

shedweller

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Yep, he wasn't even half way to "space".

I wasn't particularly impressed. Sure, it took balls of steel to do the jump, but there are plenty of people out there with enough balls if they had the opportunity.

Agreed there. Theres plenty out there would go in a spaceship to mars if they were let too. Even on a one way trip. I know i would! Does that make a manned mars trip less amazing?

ChopShop

I also am far too smart to be remotely impressed by these events.

shedweller

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

wernstrom! wrote: »

I also am far too smart to be remotely impressed by these events.

What might impress you then?

Maximus Alexander

Boringgggg...

shedweller wrote: »

Agreed there. Theres plenty out there would go in a spaceship to mars if they were let too. Even on a one way trip. I know i would! Does that make a manned mars trip less amazing?

No, because a manned Mars trip is hard to do. A balloon is not.

How you can compare the two is beyond me.

sbsquarepants

Not really, but nice to watch

seven_eleven wrote: »

It's not really that impressive when you look at this and see that he didnt jump from that much of a height at all. People had you almost believing he was in bloody space with the way they talked. And of course, the fish eye camera to make it look like the earth was smaller :rolleyes:

(He jumped from 39km height)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Atmosphere_layers-en.svg

Seems quite high to me.
I do kinda see what you mean though - if the whole thing was scaled down so that the earth was the size of a classroom globe - then he jumped from roughly 1mm above the surface. It's still quite an achievement though, but more down to the suit than the man.
Put it this way - the suit could do it without felix - felix couldn't do it without the suit!

shedweller

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

No, because a manned Mars trip is hard to do. A balloon is not.

How you can compare the two is beyond me.

I'm actually not, really. A manned mars trip is obviously more complicated. But the main reason every second skydiver isn't jumping from 128,000 feet is the cost of it.
But the assertion that the jump was boring because anyone could or would do it is wrong, or weak. On the basis that out of those that would do it, a significant percentage would go to space.

kraggy

T-K-O wrote: »

I thought it was a big deal until I found out some guy made the same jump 20/30 years ago.

With the technology available today his jump was a walk in the park

No he didn't do the same jump.

He jumped from a lower altitude thus didn't incur the risk of breaking the sound barrier.

0ph0rce0

Not really, but nice to watch

I'm more impressed that his surname sounds a little like BUM GARDENER

Dempsey

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Yep, he wasn't even half way to "space".

I wasn't particularly impressed. Sure, it took balls of steel to do the jump, but there are plenty of people out there with enough balls if they had the opportunity.

People have tried to break Kittinger's records before, they died. You need a certain skillset to perform that jump, balls of steel isnt enough.

Maximus Alexander

Boringgggg...

Dempsey wrote: »

People have tried to break Kittinger's records before, they died. You need a certain skillset to perform that jump, balls of steel isnt enough.

If it's so impressive in its own right, why lie about it and describe it as a jump from space?

Dempsey

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

If it's so impressive in its own right, why lie about it and describe it as a jump from space?

It was advertised as a jump from the edge of space

shedweller

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

Because it sounds good?

Maximus Alexander

Boringgggg...

shedweller wrote: »

I'm actually not, really. A manned mars trip is obviously more complicated. But the main reason every second skydiver isn't jumping from 128,000 feet is the cost of it.
But the assertion that the jump was boring because anyone could or would do it is wrong, or weak. On the basis that out of those that would do it, a significant percentage would go to space.

I wouldn't be impressed with a manned mission to Mars on the basis that the astronauts are incredible. I would be impressed with it due to the complexity, organisation and monumental effort that would be required by all of the thousands of people involved, in order to pull it off. Not to mention the will, the technology and the resources.

It would stand as a testament to human achievement, and dwarf even the moon landings.

Jumping out a balloon in a fancy suit isn't even the same sport.

Maximus Alexander

Boringgggg...

shedweller wrote: »

Because it sounds good?

Precisely, because what it actually is, doesn't sound good.

ringadingding

I'm not gonna lie, I was glued to it, thought it was awesome.
And for some reason I can't work out I got a bit emotional watching it.

Gwan felix ya good tingya