[b] fearless
This past Sunday (14 October 2012) my wife and I watched as history was made. We were sitting in our family room and watched as Austria’s Felix Baumgartner earned his place in the history books. We were completely watching. When he was ready to make the jump, the hatch openned and the view was amazing. At this point, he was approximately 120,000 + feet in the air (or should I say, at the edge of space!). (note: 1st record broke; see below) It was pretty amazing.
When he finished his checklist and stepped out of the capsule, we were holding our breaths. I could image we felt like our parents did when I was 1 year old (in 1969) and U.S. had just landed on the moon. Baumgartner gave a little wave of the hand, and then dropped. At that moment, Felix broke a 2nd record, even after overcoming concerns with the power for his visor heater that impaired his vision and nearly jeopardized the mission. Baumgartner reached an estimated speed of 1,342.8 km (Mach 1.24) jumping from the stratosphere, which when certified will make him the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall and set several other records while delivering valuable data for future space exploration.
It was a very cool feeling to see someone accomplish such an amazing goal. The event was seven years in the making and I am sure made many people jealous (hint, hint Sir Richard Branson)
