Google exec breaks skydiving record

[krose]

Google exec Alan Eustace breaks Felix Baumgartner's record by 7000 feet, second man to break sound barrier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsftfzBrVko

 

[phucheneh]

Allow me to save everyone the time I just wasted:

Terrible video is terrible. Read the one line of text in the OP and be done. Nothing to see here. Move along.

 

[Carson Dyle]

It really is a worthless video.

 

[Daaavo]

The best part of the video was the National Airlines DC-8-70 in the background.

 

[olds]

What a POS video. Was the jump fake?

 

[T9D]

Wasn't worthless. Short but not worthless. Awesome seeing him up that high before letting go.

 

[Printer Bandit]

did he even gopro?

 

[Markbnj]

If he had done this before Felix it would have been big news. As it is not many people paid attention, even though there were some interesting differences in the approaches they took to get up there.

 

[John Connor]

I heard this on the news today. Video sucked though.

 

[Carson Dyle]

If he had done this before Felix it would have been big news. As it is not many people paid attention, even though there were some interesting differences in the approaches they took to get up there.

Hard to tell exactly what went on from that video.

I just watched the Felix Baumgartner video again. He went up in a small capsule and had to disconnect from oxygen and monitoring systems and step out of the capsule on his own. For Baumgartner, that looked like a remarkably difficult task, as though he didn't didn't have enough oxygen. Then there was his endless, uncontrolled tumbling while free falling through the almost non-existent atmosphere.

None of that is shown in this video. He's in a pressurized suit, hanging by a harness below the balloon. My guess is that he was simply cut loose remotely or else by some type of altitude sensor. None of the free fall is shown, so we don't know if he experienced the same tumbling, or what they did to control it (gyro stabilization?).

As far as I'm concerned, they could have dropped a rock with a parachute from that balloon and it would have been just about as interesting.

 

[Kaido]

Nailed the landing.

 

[norseamd]

Well reading the Felix Baumgartner Wikipedia article it seems Felix had some claustrophobia issues at the very least when preparing for his jump. Felix got to sit in a nice comfy capsule on his way up. This guy just decided to just strap the fucking balloon to his fucking back. How many guys would die of shock before they even got to the necessary altitude?

 

[Kaido]

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/24/google-exec-alan-eustace-stratex-high-altitude-jump/

 

[SKORPI0]

Achieved without the use of a pressurized capsule. :awe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/s...ing-felix-baumgartners-world-record.html?_r=0

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29766189

Mr Eustace also broke the world records for vertical speed reached during freefall with a peak velocity of 1,321km/h (822 mph) and total freefall distance of 123,414 feet - lasting four minutes and 27 seconds.
He set off from a runway in Roswell, New Mexico, at 07:00 connected to a balloon module, which carried him for two hours and seven minutes to his target altitude.

A senior Google vice president, Alan Eustace, has broken the world altitude record for a parachute jump set in 2012 by Austrian Felix Baumgartner.
Mr Eustace was carried by a large helium balloon from New Mexico to over 40km (25 miles) above the earth.
The 57-year-old leapt out in a specially-designed space suit, reaching speeds of more than 1,300km/h.
He exceeded the speed of sound, setting off a small sonic boom, and set several skydiving records in the process.
The dive was part of a project led by Paragon Space Development Corporation, aimed at the exploration of the stratosphere above 100,000 feet (30,480 metres).

Mr Eustace successfully jumped from near the top of the stratosphere at an altitude of 135,890 feet at 09:09 local time (16:00 GMT), the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) confirmed on Friday.
The previous record was set by Mr Baumgartner two years ago, after he jumped from a height of nearly 128,000 feet.

 

[massmedia]

Kerbal Space Program has taught me that you can't get high enough to burn up on re-entry without some kind of rocket ship.

 

[Stopsignhank]

This is really cool.

 

[KeithP]

Terrible video is terrible. Read the one line of text in the OP and be done. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Why am I not surprised that a Google Exec screwed up the user experience.

-KeithP

 

[DownTheSky]

Why am I not surprised that a Google Exec screwed up the user experience.

-KeithP

Yeah, let the guy do badass stuff and complain about the video coverage because that's what people do.

 

[Markbnj]

I just watched the Felix Baumgartner video again. He went up in a small capsule and had to disconnect from oxygen and monitoring systems and step out of the capsule on his own. For Baumgartner, that looked like a remarkably difficult task, as though he didn't didn't have enough oxygen. Then there was his endless, uncontrolled tumbling while free falling through the almost non-existent atmosphere.

I forget the title, but there's a great documentary on Netflix about Baumgartner's attempt. He had a lot of mental issues with the capsule. It almost ended the project. And yes, the main difference was that Felix had a capsule, and this latest guy was just tethered to a frame suspended below the balloon.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I for one always thought dilithium crystals were over rated....

 

[KMFJD]

Congrats on an amazing waste of helium