Felix Baumgartner No Big Deal

Dempsey

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

darced wrote: »

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He fell to earth alot faster than Joe did

darced

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Jimoslimos

Boringgggg...

norrie rugger wrote: »

All of these private endeavours (Space X, Virgin Galaxy, Felix's jump) are the things driving our space tech development now.

They're not really. Slick marketing opportunities for the companies involved, but in no way pushing the boundaries as say an Apollo mission did.

Wibbs

Boringgggg...

darced wrote: »

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Unless they had ejection seats trying to struggle out of a tumbling box with only one exit would have been nigh on impossible, that's if they were conscious at all of course. With the Columbia disaster they might had some chance, if they had time between realising the craft was about to break up and it actually breaking up. Lots of ifs mind you. One of the biggest being the speed they were going when it broke up. Ejecting even higher than Felix et al while going many times the speed of sound sounds pretty unsurvivable.

norrie rugger

Not really, but nice to watch

Wibbs wrote: »

Unless they had ejection seats trying to struggle out of a tumbling box with only one exit would have been nigh on impossible, that's if they were conscious at all of course. With the Columbia disaster they might had some chance, if they had time between realising the craft was about to break up and it actually breaking up. Lots of ifs mind you. One of the biggest being the speed they were going when it broke up. Ejecting even higher than Felix et al while going many times the speed of sound sounds pretty unsurvivable.

Yes a lot of "ifs" but that suit is a start (as is the telemerty of his body reactions).
NASA have admitted as much and asked if they could review the data for their own works

darced

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Maximus Alexander

Boringgggg...

norrie rugger wrote: »

It is not space suits that is the thing, it is emergency craft evacuation suits that are required.
The crew of the Columbia apparently would have had time to exit the craft, had there been suitable equipment to do so.

I appreciate the explanation, but I don't think that Felix's jump contributes at all to astronaut safety.

I think you are actually talking about the Challenger disaster (Columbia broke up on re-entry at a much, much higher altitude than this jump), where some of the crew members were still alive when the capsule hit the ocean, killing them.

The thing is, pressure suits capable of saving them existed at the time, but were not provided. They actually included them, along with ejector seats, in the test flights. Sadly, they removed them for operational missions, claiming they were too costly and would never be needed.

norrie rugger

Not really, but nice to watch

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I appreciate the explanation, but I don't think that Felix's jump contributes at all to astronaut safety.

I think you are actually talking about the Challenger disaster (Columbia broke up on re-entry at a much, much higher altitude than this jump), where some of the crew members were still alive when the capsule hit the ocean, killing them.

The thing is, pressure suits capable of saving them existed at the time, but were not provided. They actually included them, along with ejector seats, in the test flights. Sadly, they removed them for operational missions, claiming they were too costly and would never be needed.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/31/columbia_crew_report/

The review mentioned that the rotational events (such as the telemetry from his body readings) and manual control activations (he had redundant automation) and thermal incidents (that is a tough one obviously but his suit had to take quite a battering from friction).

The suit took on board a lot of what NASA said would be needed. Again a proper exit strategy would be needed, to compensate for the extreme speed but this is a step.

To be honest, the Challenger incident would be similar but Columbia would have been slightly more "controlled" in the chain leading up to the incident

Jev/N

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

darced wrote: »

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Tough thing to do when you're peaking at a speed 200mph faster than Kittinger.

Ashbourne hoop

I thought it was an amazing jump, and no science geek is going to make me think otherwise.

EdenHazard

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!)

Well, compare that super computer built in the 1960's to your 50 euro phone's capabilities. The super computer in todays money would cost 1 million, and your 50 euro phone has thousands time more power(I forget the actual numbers but its crazy)

I think in the decades coming up we'll see human life radically changing as technologies come together(but im going off topic)

I guess I actually agree in hindsight with the OP tbh. It was prob blown out of proportion!

Shenshen

I have to admit, I never watched it.
However, a week or so after the event, my husband watched a documentary about the preparations etc.

I actually got seriously annoyed. The amount of money (mostly from sponsorship) going into such a stupid, pointless, useless, egomanic thing like that! Red Bull spent hundreds of thousands on this.

The only thing I was sure of after watching this is that I will never, ever touch a Red Bull again in my life. Throwing money at something as dull and ridiculous as that when they could have given it to charities or useful projects instead.
Idiots, the lot of them.

nobby grande

Not really, but nice to watch

Shenshen wrote: »

I have to admit, I never watched it.
However, a week or so after the event, my husband watched a documentary about the preparations etc.

I actually got seriously annoyed. The amount of money (mostly from sponsorship) going into such a stupid, pointless, useless, egomanic thing like that! Red Bull spent hundreds of thousands on this.

The only thing I was sure of after watching this is that I will never, ever touch a Red Bull again in my life. Throwing money at something as dull and ridiculous as that when they could have given it to charities or useful projects instead.
Idiots, the lot of them.

Please don't turn this into an economic issue. I hear what you are saying but science experiments need funding, always have always will. To advance and progress we (humans) have to invest. Speculate to accumulate and all that. The fact that redbull pump money into this and other extreme sports in not only intelligent marketing but the funding money is advancing our knowledge and expierience of travel above the stratosphere. How do you feel about the Mars rover landings or the SETI research in the Atacama desert?
Do you believe in funding science?

--Kaiser--

Not really, but nice to watch

Shenshen wrote: »

I have to admit, I never watched it.
However, a week or so after the event, my husband watched a documentary about the preparations etc.

I actually got seriously annoyed. The amount of money (mostly from sponsorship) going into such a stupid, pointless, useless, egomanic thing like that! Red Bull spent hundreds of thousands on this.

The only thing I was sure of after watching this is that I will never, ever touch a Red Bull again in my life. Throwing money at something as dull and ridiculous as that when they could have given it to charities or useful projects instead.
Idiots, the lot of them.

A lot of people get paid hundreds of thousands a year to kick a ball around. Context

novarock

Shenshen wrote: »

I have to admit, I never watched it.
However, a week or so after the event, my husband watched a documentary about the preparations etc.

I actually got seriously annoyed. The amount of money (mostly from sponsorship) going into such a stupid, pointless, useless, egomanic thing like that! Red Bull spent hundreds of thousands on this.

The only thing I was sure of after watching this is that I will never, ever touch a Red Bull again in my life. Throwing money at something as dull and ridiculous as that when they could have given it to charities or useful projects instead.
Idiots, the lot of them.

Compared to the billions spent on the hadron collider it is buttons - again in the name of research and better understanding of our world. We wont fully understand the data that it is collecting in our lifetime I reckon, but it is of critical importance.

That is the first event in my 30 year lifetime that stands out as a feat of human endeavour. When the original jumps were being made the US was firing money at the military to achieve such things.

Id say if you asked anyone woh worked for redbull why they did it, they would say 'advertising'. It still doesnt change the scale of the achievement.

Ken.

Not really, but nice to watch

I recall them saying during Felix's event that the husband of one of the challenger women had helped in the design of the suit Felix wore.

Dodge

Boringgggg...

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

A lot of people get paid hundreds of thousands a year to kick a ball around. Context

They also make their employers many multiples of that. Not really sure how that puts Red Bull's sponsorship in context

--Kaiser--

Not really, but nice to watch

Dodge wrote: »

They also make their employers many multiples of that. Not really sure how that puts Red Bull's sponsorship in context

You don't think they got media exposure for this? Same as any other Red Bull sponsored event (FlugTag, X-Fighters etc.....)

Boscoirl

I think it was a kick in the balls to "Red Bull It gives you wings", he didnt even do a loop de loop or anything

--Kaiser--

Not really, but nice to watch

Boscoirl wrote: »

I think it was a kick in the balls to "Red Bull It gives you wings", he didnt even do a loop de loop or anything

...and he didn't so much fly as plummet

Mr Benevolent

Wibbs wrote: »

With the Columbia disaster they might had some chance, if they had time between realising the craft was about to break up and it actually breaking up.

They had no chance. The Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report makes for interesting reading. Thermal, G and aerodynamic loads would have been orders of magnitude beyond what Baumgartner experienced.

I once jumped from a three storey building into a big pit of sand. You didn't see me bragging about it or getting sponsorship for it.

If anything what it highlighted is the fact that the makers of a bloody energy-drink have a better budget than the likes of NASA.

Agricola

Not really, but nice to watch

It didnt particularly impress me. Not because Im under any illusions that I'd do it myself, I fúcking wouldnt, but just because he was a glorified chimp who had huge money and the support of very clever people behind him. He had to learn a number of procedures, execute them in the correct order and then plummet to the ground. Considering hes a life long sky diver, the fall itself was possibly the least worrying part for him.

Yes he is very brave and he conquered his fear of the suit and the inherent danger to complete the job. He's to be applauded for that. But its nothing compared to the moon landings. It's insulting to the Apollo astronauts to make a comparison.

Logical Fallacy

darced wrote: »

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You are aware that by reaching a higher speed he would have been covering the distance to earth faster, right?

--Kaiser--

Not really, but nice to watch

Deleted User wrote: »

I once jumped from a three storey building into a big pit of sand. You didn't see me bragging about it or getting sponsorship for it.

If anything what it highlighted is the fact that the makers of a bloody energy-drink have a better budget than the likes of NASA.

Not even close. NASA's budget is in the billions

PizzamanIRL

Not really, but nice to watch

WTF does excite the people that voted boring?

Finding toys in your cereal boxes?

Logical Fallacy

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Not even close. NASA's budget is in the billions

Hell, Apollo 1 cost about 150 billion adjusted for inflation.

Dempsey

Yea, Its up there with events of 2012

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've got my doubts about that.
I'd say it is entirely possible to throw a mannequin or a dead body out of a balloon with an altimeter to open the parachute and more or less recreate this jump. Do you honestly think that if felix had passed out through spinning, or just plain panic that he would have just hit the ground like a bag of bricks? The only thing that could have stumped him was a fault in the equipment, either the suit or the chute or whatever.
As has been mentioned the only reason that a hundred adrenaline junkies aren't doing this day in day out is that it cost $10m.

Edit - the guy who died trying the jump, did so because his visor opened either by a mistake or a fault - ie a material failure. He passed out and was parachuted "safely" back to earth - it was oxygen deprivation, and pressure effects that killed him AFAIK

The whole point of the jump was to explore the effects of acceleration to supersonic velocity on humans and to test equipment and improve safety procedures for high altitude ditching. A mannequin wouldnt work!

Dodge

Boringgggg...

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

You don't think they got media exposure for this? Same as any other Red Bull sponsored event (FlugTag, X-Fighters etc.....)

Absolutely. I wasn't the one who said it was wasted money. I just wanted to point out that there's no real comparison with the wages of footballers

Shenshen

nobby grande wrote: »

Please don't turn this into an economic issue. I hear what you are saying but science experiments need funding, always have always will. To advance and progress we (humans) have to invest. Speculate to accumulate and all that. The fact that redbull pump money into this and other extreme sports in not only intelligent marketing but the funding money is advancing our knowledge and expierience of travel above the stratosphere. How do you feel about the Mars rover landings or the SETI research in the Atacama desert?
Do you believe in funding science?

I do believe in funding for science.
I do not believe in throwing hundreds of thousands of Euros at an egomaniac on a mission to make a 4 minute youtube video.