Red Bull Stratos 2012

[Chimera]

Just to let you know of this incredible project:

http://www.redbullstratos.com/

Test flight has gone well 2 days ago at 71,000 ft . They hope to achieve the supersonic manflight from 120,000 ft before the end of year... Crazy stuff..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-TCO2IdoTA

[joka]

How the hell does Red Bull finance all of this stuff? It's like their involved in everything. Red bull racing, red bull helicopter flying, red bull whatnot

It's like they put up the energy drink company just to pay for a whole lot of fun.

[CMNot]

Well, in the UK at least, they sell a quarter litre of water and sugar for $2.

Coca-cola: this is the company you could of been. I'm fairly non-plussed with Red Bull, but it mixes well with vodka, and they plow big chunks of their money into cool stuff.

[Aerosoul]

Red Bull is expensive but their marketing and product has produced quite the following.

inb4 Joe Kittinger. Met him a while back through someone I know that used to do some serious ballooning. Some remarkable stories.
This stuff is awesome.

[C.Puffs]

Red Bull is expensive but their marketing and product has produced quite the following.

inb4 Joe Kittinger. Met him a while back through someone I know that used to do some serious ballooning. Some remarkable stories.
This stuff is awesome.

Heh. He's the first (and AFAIK the only) man to have achieved supersonic flight in freefall.

edit: Looks like he only reached 614 mph which is short of Mach 1.

[CMNot]

How does supersonic freefall work? I was under the notion that the terminal velocity of an average human is ~120mph. Ballast and reduced resistance at altitude?

[C.Puffs]

How does supersonic freefall work? I was under the notion that the terminal velocity of an average human is ~120mph. Ballast and reduced resistance at altitude?

At high altitude the air is thin so you can fall faster. Also, the speed of sound is lower than at sea level.

[CMNot]

Also, the speed of sound is lower than at sea level.

Now this, I didn't know, cheers. Although now that I think about it, it is blindingly obvious.

So in all likelihood then, the business end of the drop is done very early on, as resistance would increase throughout. The bulk of the flight being recreational and tripping out on the worlds curvature. Pretty ****ing cool.

[KillerBD]

I heard Red Bull is making a manned moon landing by 2015...