Although I'm hyped to post about my family's recent road trip out west, I feel OBLIGATED to write about today's monumental event. I've long been captivated by space, space documentaries and movies, the Nasa program and even the conspiracy theories— come on, the moon landing DOES look like a sound stage, does it not? I've also witnessed many major world events live on TV— But THIS… THIS is a day I'm so glad to have been alive for. Today Felix Baumgartner grabbed his big man Calvins and broke the 52 year old record for space jumping from an absolutely mind-boggling height of 128,000 feet, reaching free-fall speeds of 833 MPH. Big congratulations on your successful jump and so happy you are safe and sound, Mr. Baumgartner!
The other important person in this story is the previous record holder and aviation pioneer, (Retired) US Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger. I came across Mr. Kittinger's 1960, 102,800 foot jump while searching for information on YouTube about Felix's jump that was scheduled to happen while we were in New Mexico. Nine years before humans landed on the moon, this brave man donned an incredibly basic flight suit and jumped from an open-air gondola falling at up to 614 MPH! His right glove pressurization malfunctioned during the ascent, and his hand swelled to twice it's normal size. He jumped anyway. In today's jump who did Felix want to be his point of contact for the mission? Mr. Kittinger.
I'm so grateful for these very brave souls with the absolute gumption to explore, challenge themselves and go for their dreams while allowing us watch in awe!
In Felix and Joe's words: "I wish the world could see what I see, sometimes you have to go up really high to know how small you really are." —FB "…our guardian angel will take care of ya." —JK
See an atmospheric video of Joe Kittinger's experience here. You can find the video of Felix Baumgartner's jump here. Yay also to Redbull for sponsoring this progress in space aviation!
