What Is "Red Bull Stratos"

Red Bull Stratos is a scientific mission involving Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner. The mission will see Baumgartner ascend approximately 23 miles (37 km) over Roswell, New Mexico in a helium balloon before freefalling and parachuting to Earth.If successful, Baumgartner will break the sound barrier on his descent, becoming the first human to do so without vehicular power.

The project's launch on 9 October 2012 was delayed and eventually postponed due to strong winds. The revised launch date is 11 October.

Red Bull Stratos Live Blog: Watch Felix Baumgartner Break Speed Of Sound

Update: Today’s launch has been aborted because of windy conditions. Be sure to join us again tomorrow when Baumgartner and team hopefully get a chance to stun the world.

Red Bull Stratos, a project five years in the making, will finally take flight today. Skydiver Felix Baumgartner will fall from near-space about 23 miles above the Earth’s surface, breaking the speed of sound in the process. He will be the first free-falling human to break the sound barrier. Baumgartner will also collect three other world records: highest manned balloon flight, highest altitude jump (both will be 120,000 feet) and longest time in free fall (about five-and-a-half minutes).

Felix Baumgartner Talks Space Jump, Red Bull’s ‘Stratos,’ Kittinger’s Record, and More

It’s not Superman flying through the atmosphere—it’s Felix Baumgartner, the man expected to undertake a 23-mile space jump on Tuesday (weather permitting, that is). Pawel Szaniawski talks to the extreme athlete about the stunt, its purpose, and what it will feel like to break the sound barrier.
This is not something you see every day: extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner will undertake a 23-mile free fall into southeastern New Mexico on Tuesday—if the weather permits it. Baumgartner has spent five years training, and he is hoping to take off in a 55-story helium balloon headed to the stratosphere on Oct. 9, after weather pushed the jump back by a day. It will take him three hours to reach 120,000 feet. From that height, his jump is expected to last about 10 minutes and he will reach speeds of 690 mph. Pawel Szaniawski interviews the daredevil.