After five years of preparation, Felix Baumgartner successfully leapt
from the edge of space Sunday.
As millions watched on television and the Internet, the Austrian
skydiver jumped from a space capsule tethered to a 55-story helium
balloon after it reached the altitude of 127,000 feet.
It took two hours and 20 minutes to ascend to the height of the jump,
and just five minutes for Baumgartner to descend.
Baumgartner wore a pressurized astronaut-like suit. He was supported
by a NASA-style mission control operation called Red Bull Stratos at
an airfield in Roswell, New Mexico, with 300 engineers, scientists and
physicians.
Were testing new space suits, escape concepts, and treatment protocols
for pressure loss at extreme altitudes, Red Bull Stratos medical
director, Dr. Jonathan Clark, who formerly oversaw the health of space
shuttle crews at NASA, told The New York Times.
There are so many things that could go wrong here that were pushing
the technical envelope.
Fortunately, nothing did go wrong. Congratulations!
Source : Radaronline