By snoadmin
If you were not one of the eight million people watching Red Bull daredevil Felix Baumgartner free fall from space on Sunday, then you certainly missed out on some exciting entertainment.
If you were not one of the eight million people watching Red Bull daredevil Felix Baumgartner free fall from space on Sunday, then you certainly missed out on some exciting entertainment.
Baumgartner, who has been a daredevil for Red Bull since 1988, broke the record for the longest free fall ever performed by man. At an estimated 24 miles above the Earth’s surface and racing to the ground at a top speed of 834 mph, Baumgartner broke the sound barrier and smashed the record that was formally held by Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who fell from 19 miles above the Earth’s surface.
As the person who held the record for 52 years, it was only fitting that he had the honor of being Baumgartner’s project adviser.
Millions of people gathered around their computers to watch the historic event online, and despite a few moments of panic when Baumgartner went into a death spin, the jump was executed as well as it had been planned.
Due to his heroic feat, Baumgartner has become an instant celebrity and rightfully so.
Not many people would risk their lives jumping from the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere all in the name of an energy drink.
Baumgartner’s jump serves as an example of humanity’s desire to still push the limits of what we can accomplish. It also fuels the fire for more privately run and promotional space exploration.
Sadly, even though Baumgartner’s jump was quite a feat, it also proved that space exploration has been left to companies like Red Bull, who will only use this exploration to promote their products.
So on Sunday, the scientific aspect of space exploration fell along with Baumgartner.
His free fall never would have happened under NASA’s watch. That is not to say that NASA would not want to have a man to jump from space.
It is just that they could never have afforded it.
And Baumgartner’s jump, while incredibly awesome, was not entirely necessary for space exploration, so NASA would not have been willing to spend the funds required for it.
American citizens have become unwilling to let their tax money go toward NASA, so the national agency – which is responsible for our understanding of the universe beyond us – can no longer provide the same services it once did.
However, just because the Endeavour has retired and been dragged through Los Angeles’s streets does not mean that all space travel and exploration is over.
With the emergence of privately owned space travel companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, the future of space exploration is still alive and well.
As for Red Bull, it will be interesting to see what the company will have one of its daredevils do next.
As expensive as this jump must have been, Red Bull cannot ignore the publicity and brand awareness that was spread by such an amazing feat. Red Bull should definitely look to continue broadcasting massive record-breaking feats, whether it has to do with space or not.
And when it comes to the generations that were not around to see the U.S. land on the moon, Baumgartner can essentially be their surrogate Neil Armstrong. It is hard to think of a moment in recent history when so many people gathered around to watch a moment in space such as this.
Of course, eight million watching Baumgartner jump is nowhere near the 600 million people who watched Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, but in a sense there is still a feeling of connectedness that exudes from coming together to watch history be made live.
At any rate, Red Bull has at least reached college students during their midterms these next few weeks. The ball’s in your court now, 5-Hour Energy.
