This Is What It Looks Like to Freefall From Space

Felix Baumgartner about to step out of his pressurized capsule on October 14, 2012 (Credit: Red Bull)

Remember BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner’s incredible freefall from the “edge of space” in October 2012? The highly anticipated (and highly publicized) Red Bull-sponsored stunt was watched live by viewers around the world (including me — it was very cool!) and set new records for highest jump, fastest freefall, and highest balloon-powered human flight. That day Baumgartner even broke the long-standing record held by his mentor Col. Joe Kittinger, who jumped from 102,800 feet in August 1960… and with seven GoPro Hero2 cameras mounted to Felix’s high-tech suit and helmet, you can see what he saw during every one of the 127,852 feet that he fell down to Earth.

(That’s ah, over 24 miles/39 km. *Gulp.*)

The video above was released today by GoPro, and is a more polished and edited version than the one released by Red Bull this past October. Check it out above, or for full vertigo-inducing* freefall effect watch it in fullscreen HD on YouTube. *Consider yourself warned!

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HT to Robert Gonzalez at io9

Jason Major

A graphic designer in Rhode Island, Jason writes about space exploration on his blog Lights In The Dark, Discovery News, and, of course, here on Universe Today. Ad astra!