[Closed] PSA - Space Dive, Felix Baumgartner. BBC2 8:30pm - Red Bull Stratos

Tonight??

Excellent PSA

Sorry yes tonight 4th Nov.

Great PSA! I know where I'll be at 8:30 this evening!

you got a link?

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Bump!

Oof! What to watch ?

How Britain Worked is on Channel 4, 8 till 9...

Alpin - Usually the number 2 button on your remote 😉

Bump'idge

Alpin - Usually the number 2 button on your remote

Top PSA.

Just found this hopping through channel guide. I'd have been gutted if I'd missed it.

My HD feed has died, I'm having to watch it on paupers TV. 🙁

That's about as squeaky bum time a moment as I've seen recently. 😯

What...cut main chute away in error......ouch!

Just imagine what doing this in 1960 was like ?

He broke the sound barrier whereas his predessor in 1960 did not as at the time no one was sure what would happen if he did

is his fear of the suit due to claustrophobia/feeling of restriction?

Phew! Excellent TV, showing all the stress and trauma going on in the background. Having done all the nutty things he has, it's amazing that Felix had such issues; I guess it's the closed-in nature of the suit and helmet. Loved his mum, though, what a lovely lady. 😀

Huge balls but massive diva!!

I thought that whilst the documentary was great, it wasnt a patch on watching the thing live on a shonky internet stream.

100 percent awesomeness.

Transfixed throughout the programme.

That jump out of the pod..... Dear God.

Even more epic knowing what happened when the live feed was cut.

I know it's not quite the same, but I remember that brilliant programme where James May went up in the U2 plane to 72,000ft: He had to wear a pressure suit, essentially the same as the original astronauts, and he found it incredibly claustrophobic. He, like Felix, had a bit of a tantrum and they had to shut the camera off.

Great programme: He did come across as a bit of a diva, though, although ole Col. Joe came across as a top bloke.

is his fear of the suit due to claustrophobia/feeling of restriction?

Guess I wasnt feeling it as most of the 'issues' came across as contrived to add a feeling of jeopardy to something where you know the outcome is successful. Like the 'potential' effects of the sound barrier-at that altitude with such thin air effects were going to be minimal and I didnt buy how 'unknown' it was when we've had high altitude supersonic aircraft flying for 50 years.

Not belittling his bravery or the achievement, just the drama in the programme.

When they say he broke the speed of sound, is it not higher in the thinner air up there?

[url= ]Speed of Sound vs Altitude[/url]

Guess I wasnt feeling it as most of the 'issues' came across as contrived

I thought it was great TV. The issues all seemed very very real to me, that moment where the guy got Hypoxia, passed out, then fell unconcious out of the aeroplane for instance!

Brilliant programme I though, but my word, $11 million?

god knows what was going through his mind when he was spinning that quickly

I know it'll be on iplayer, but is it repeated on any normal BBC channels so I can record it properly?

I know it'll be on iplayer, but is it repeated on any normal BBC channels so I can record it properly?

Repeated tonight on BBC2 about 11pm.

What...cut main chute away in error......ouch!

That footage sent chills right through me. We've all had those moments when riding where it goes a bit sketchy and you know a crash is imminent - nasty, slow mo kind of thing. God only knows how that must have felt!!

Great documentary. I have to agree with the comments about him being a bit of a diva and the added drama.

One thing that struck me was that, while his achievements are very impressive and his cojones muy grande, he was really just the monkey in a suit. He took a year off because he wasn't happy with the suit FFS, yet the project continued - did anyone not think they had someone else lined up to jump?

I guess the guy who they got in to test the suit during his absence would have gone up, if Felix had pulled out completely.

Just trying to put myself in Felix' shoes for a minute: Once he is up there, he is on his own, and if he messed up he was dead. Therefore he had to be sure that he could control his freefall. It was clear in the programme that he didn't feel he had the level of control he needed with the pressure suite on, which made him understandably nervous.

it never actually mentioned how he managed to come out of the rotational spin - and why wasn't the little parachute thing deployed?

anyone know?

My angle on the whole expedition:
I sit sometimes for 3+ hours in one go at my office desk, that feels traumatic to me, but the safety net I have is I can go get a tea and have a shit, wander around then sod off for lunch, hang around chatting to girls, you know the sort of thing.
I don’t think I could sit in a pod for 3 hours, on my own looking out as the sky falls away, through the clouds, then up into nothingness with the only outcome being the fact that if I don’t like it I have to jump out, this, this alone scares the (tight) pants off me.
As for the diva, well nahh I don’t think he is, the year off was obviously planned in as he had other commitments and the delays in build brought about that window.
Changing the PM half way through the program was ill conceived but rightly justified by RedBull. That alone sends shivers down a/the team which are hard to reform again escalating costs and delays in build seemed the right thing to do for them.
As they said, building something new for this type of event was always going to cost.. RedBull stood by the project, could have been easy to pull out at any time.
Transfixed I was.

But I still can’t bring myself to buy a can of RB.

I think he should get a medal for having to deal with those people in the control room.

It was interesting that although he jumped from higher he was actually in free fall for less time.

I don't care for the whole thing.

It's been billed as some kind of major human achievement, when in reality it's that bloke indulging himself and a marketing stunt. And similar things were done 50 years ago. Struggling to get excited about it.

Plus he went AWOL in the middle, jeopardised his team's hard work without even talking to them about it. Sorry, but what a drama queen. Yes it's tough, but people went into space half a century ago with primitive technology, they just got on with their job without histrionics. And there are people doing their duty on battlefields the world over being shot at and blown up, and they just crack on knowing they might die.

It's all a bit narcissistic imo. It's so that HE can be the record breaker.

Aren't the vast majority of human achievements about individuals "indulging" themselves in some way?

As they explained in the programme: All the original pioneers were pilots, who were use to operating in similar conditions and wearing pressure suits; logging thousands and thousands of hours in such equipment. Felix was use to being able to feel his surrounds, allowing him to judge what to do, by feeling the air around him. The pressure suite took all that away from him.

Aren't the vast majority of human achievements about individuals "indulging" themselves in some way?

I dunno, are they?

Good achievements usually achieve something worthwhile for more than one person, no?

I'd love to make an attempt on the record for circumnavigating the world by bike. Anyone want to give me a shedload of money and support? I can have an emotional wobble half way round if you like? Maybe some teary hysterical video diaries sent from some dark jungle via a generously donated satellite phone? That'd be great TV.

As "marketing stunts" go, this is a good one...

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When Joe Kittinger did it, he was testing emergency escape systems for astronauts and high altitude pilots, and to see if they could survive bailing out at such high altitude. I guess there will be an extra level of data to add to Col. Kittinger's findings.

Edit: When you hear the Apollo astronauts speak, they openly admit that they were essentially rock stars: They drove around in sports cars, they loved all the attention. Do you think they did that soley for the benefit of mankind?

Do you think people climb Everest purely for the good of mankind? Do you think people walk to the North Pole for the sole benefit of mankind? etc etc etc

I think psychology had a huge part to play in the whole thing, and to be fair was some thing the programme didn't even touch on.

The guy likes sky diving, and has done everything that you can do in the sport, so needs a challenge, the next challenge is to go higher than anyone has before. Great.

However, what he didnt realise was that he wasn't actually going to be sky diving, a point made by the guy who had been there and done it, he was essentially a bomb/aircraft. I assume this took Felix out of his comfort zone/control zone, and quite frankly scared him, just like some one who has never done a sky dive before. It obviously took him a year to get his head around it.

IMO he sounded petrified in the jump, where as the old guy sounded in control. It wasn't what he signed up for.

No doubt there's always a degree of self interest when people do this kind of thing, however I'm not sure I'd put people like the Apollo astronauts and pioneering mountaineers in the same bracket as Felix wotsisname.

Back then the fame was a by product - look at Neil Armstrong for example, he apparently hated the limelight. He was chosen for the Apollo missions because he was extremely good at his job, not because they thought he could handle the fame and attention that followed.

In my very humble and quite probably incorrect opinion, Felix wotsisname went through with this primarily because he saw fame and fortune, and Red Bull paid him a small fortune. That's not to take anything away from him, it was an amazing achievement, but personally I had a lot more time for him before I watched the documentary.

Edit to add: The first thing my missus said when he decided to go through with it after a year off was "Red Bull offered him more money". She's usually not at all cynical so that speaks volumes to me.

Hehe.... bumgardener.....

For the record, I wasn't putting ole Felix in the same bracket as the Apollo astronauts, just saying that virtually all human achievement has an element of "self-indulgence".

I can see that there's a lot of overlap between stuff I consider worthy (moon landings, space exploration, climbing Everest etc) and this, and I am not sure why this leaves me so cold compared to the others.

Essentially though, this has MOSTLY been done already. It's just added a bit of speed and a bit of height.

So yeah it's great that they climbed Everest or reached the South Pole. Howevever, pogo-sticking across Antarctica wearing a batman costume should be seen for what it is - an eccentric personal project, not some profound statement of humanity.

I wouldn't have a problem with the space jump if it wasn't so hyped up as something meaningful.

He was also monitored join the jump and test jumps and the data is going to be [url= http://medgadget.com/2012/11/the-medtech-of-the-red-bull-stratos-jump.html ]shared.[/url]

IIRC while watching it live NASA was mentioned as being interested in the results.

I wouldn't have a problem with the space jump if it[s] wasn't so hyped up as something meaningful[/s] hadn't been paid for by an Austrian drinks company.

My impression of him deteriorated a bit after this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/27/felix-baumgartner-sounds-off-on-nasa-sir-richard-branson.html

And while we're at it, the piss-take blog, Sarcastic Rover, is worth a read on the subject...
http://sarcasticrover.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/final-thoughts-on-felix/

I'd still like to give it a try though... Shame I have never sky dived before.

I liked his rationalisation of his fear, the suit being essential for the hostile environment, therefore it made it all ok. Simples.

If the photo that ole Horatio posted doesn't fill you with a sense of awe and wonder, then I feel sorry for you.

Are people here so cynical that they can't even admit to being moved by exploration any more?

Exploration is never a waste of time.

Mikey74 nails it!
Just the pic of him standing there with the bright curvature of the earth gives me shivers. I'm glad that there are people like felix and even companies like red bull.

I did wonder why Felix got the gig as they'd have had less trouble with some test pilot type. Guessing he's a Red Bull guy, and guessing being Austrian helps.

Also thought $11 million was quite a small sum of money for this type of project. Work a lot with big corporates and and frequently see how little they achieve with that sort of money.

And in case anyone has still not seen it...

Shame I have never sky dived before.

http://www.bpa.org.uk/your-first-jump/
http://www.bpa.org.uk/where-can-i-jump/

Stop putting it off! (Nice to see good old G-WOTG on that first page as well! Ah, happy days...!)

And in case anyone has still not seen it...

I laughed my a*s off when I first saw that.

If the photo that ole Horatio posted doesn't fill you with a sense of awe and wonder, then I feel sorry for you.

The photo does, but that's not really the issue.

I dunno if it counts as exploration - after all, we've been up there and beyond plenty of times. It seemed more like.. well.. willy waving. I wonder how much of it's down to the fact it was paid for out of a company's marketing budget.

Nowt wrong with big companies paying for it after all they seem to be the ones with the money.

During his "missing year" wasn't he busy doing this?

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