HEROES Print 2.0 en.redbulletin.com/print2.0 Discover Red Bull Stratos F E L I X BAUMGARTNER The last time you saw the Austrian BASE-jumper and skydiver was on the first page of your newspaper, the day after his freefall across the English Channel. His next project will redefine the limits of human endeavour. You really will believe a man can fly... Words: Christian Seiler “ I WANT TO BEQUEATH SOMETHING TO THE WORLD. I WANT TO LEAVE MY MARK ” In 2003, Felix Baumgartner put on a carbon wing, and used it to freefall into Calais after jumping out Name of a plane over the south-east coast of England. He Felix Baumgartner crossed the Channel in a way that no one before or Born since has done. Breaking records, and smashing April 20, 1969, expectations, is what the 40-year-old Austrian does. Salzburg, Austria Since then, he has undertaken some spectacular Profession BASE-jumps: leaping from some of the world’s Helicopter pilot tallest buildings and the statue of Jesus Christ in Peaks and troughs Rio de Janeiro was how he made his name. He Broke the world record for highest and lowest has also graduated from helicopter school and has BASE-jumps been working, for more than two years, on a secret Spaceman project so groundbreaking that it will recalibrate His next project, Red Bull our knowledge of the human body, and raise the Stratos, will set the bar bar for human endeavour to... well, to outer space. for human endeavour. ANN M Now, at last, his secret is out. Baumgartner’s next Watch the skies... FF and most fearsome challenge is Red Bull Stratos, Web HO EN an incredible descent from the edge of Earth’s www.felixbaumgartner. com Y: SV Y: atmosphere, during which a man, by freefall alone, is going to break the sound barrier. That man is RAPH OG Felix Baumgartner, and here is his story. T O H P 37 HEROES HEROES was in freefall for four minutes and 36 seconds, and When you go higher than 18km (11 miles), your almost reached the speed of sound when he was blood starts to boil. Most military pilots have clocked at 988kph (614mph; the speed of sound is pressurised suits that can handle altitudes of up 1236kph [768mph]). I want to break these records. to 15km (9 miles). Hardly anyone has been up When did you first think about surpassing as high as 36km, because such an extreme height Kittinger’s record? is of no interest to the military. “ eVERYTHING AROUND ME The project has been on my desk four times in one What does it feel like 36km up? WILL BE BLACK. I’LL BE ALONE form or another. In 2004, an Austrian balloonist The suit inflates and the pressure increases, and suggested taking up a gas balloon to 50km (30 any movement is agony. The human body is not IN THE STRATOSPHERe ” miles) and jumping. The second time I thought at home up there. about it was when a company I didn’t know So how can you do a parachute jump under suggested it to me, but that didn’t pan out either. such conditions? Then I was approached by a former colleague I’m learning how to from scratch. For starters, of Richard Branson – a man who has set a whole because of the helmet, you can’t see if the parachute host of ballooning records. We sat down and has opened. Two mirrors have to be fixed to my went through the logistics, but we didn’t click. gloves. And then you need total oxygen supply. And so what happened next? How much time do you spend in the suit? I decided to take matters into my own hands. After As much as possible. Joseph Kittinger told me, painstaking research, I got a team together with “You have to go singing and dancing in the suit. enough expertise in aviation and suit technology You shouldn’t even notice that you’ve got the suit for us to make an attempt at the records. on, otherwise you’ll be suddenly and hopelessly “ AS A CHILD, I ALWAYS Who’s in your team? out of your depth when you get to 36km.” WANTED TO FLY LIKE Art Thompson, an aviation expert who, among other What does he mean by that? things, helped develop the famous Stealth Bomber. Imagine you’re sitting in the capsule. There’s not OUR SUPERHEROES ” I’m also working with the David Clark Company, much room. It’s cold. You can’t feel your hands which is making my suit and is one of NASA’s most and feet. You can’t sweat, because if you do your important suppliers. Then there’s Joseph Kittinger, visor will steam up. It’s not normal, so I have to the current record-holder. And Red Bull, of course. prepare as much as possible. Without Red Bull, I’d never have been able to get And how will you learn to jump in the suit? my projects off the ground. We’ve planned several jumps at different heights. What is it you are expecting to get out of What equipment will you have in the capsule? Red Bull Stratos? The most important things: navigation and We will provide a huge amount of data that will emergency equipment, altimeter, radio, oxygen. allow analysis of what happens when extreme And how exactly do you get out of it? pressure is applied to the human body. After all, There’s a sliding door that I can open, and there no one has yet gone faster than the speed of sound are two rails fixed to the outside, which I hold without a machine powering them. onto before I get going. What do you think it’ll be like for you? How big is the balloon? Everything around me will be black. I’ll be alone Before lift-off it’s 145m tall. The skin is as thin as a in the stratosphere. When I jump, I’ll be going on normal plastic bag. That’s what makes getting the 1. THE LeAP FROM OUteR SPACE a journey that no one has ever done. I will be the balloon started so hard every time. If there’s a tear 2. EARLY YeARS first person to break the sound barrier alone. That in the skin, you have to pack the balloon back up will be a record for all eternity. As such, a piece of again and start from scratch. BAUMGARTNER HAS Your latest project is called Red Bull Stratos – me will become immortal. What’s the toughest challenge for you as far When did you begin parachute jumping? HE COMPLETED BEEN WORKING FOR Mission to the Edge of Space. What’s it all about? What’s the appeal of going down in history? as Red Bull Stratos is concerned? When I was 16. You’re not allowed to do A MECHANIC’S YEARS ON MAKING The biggest mountains have already been climbed. I want to bequeath something to the world. I’ve Only this: returning to Earth alive. it any younger than that. APPRENTICESHIP RED BULL STRATOS The Atlantic has already been crossed. Man has always been a fan of people like James Dean and Are you afraid as zero hour approaches? And why did you want to do it? AND THEN TRAINED A REALITY. HE landed on the moon. But no man has broken the Ayrton Senna, people who live on in their fans. I’ve I have respect for what I am going to do, because As a child, I always wanted to fly like our AS A PARACHUTIST SECURED THE speed of sound on his own. That’s what I want to often thought about why we don’t forget people like never before have I had to rely so much on superheroes. And in my way, I’ve achieved that. WHEN IN THE HELP OF LEADING do. If I can do that, I’ll also do the highest manned them, and it’s because they left behind something technology and my team. You served your time in the Austrian Army, AUSTRIAN ARMY. SPACE EXPERTS TO balloon trip, the longest freefall, the fastest freefall worth remembering. Because they leave their files Do you have a mental image of the moment where you learned to drive tanks and jump HE DECIDED TO O T CONSTRUCT A and the highest jump in the world. mark. That’s what it is. I want to leave my mark. O when you jump? out of planes. Why did you leave the army? BECOME A BASE- H HELIUM BALLOON And what are the project’s basic details? Are you in charge of the project, or can you P Yes I have, because I’ve gone though it a thousand I was first a tank driver and instructor, then I was JUMPER BECAUSE ll THAT CAN TAKE In a capsule attached to a helium balloon, I will defer when needs be? BU times in my mind. The only question I have yet to an athlete in the close combat school. I couldn’t IT WAS THE CLOSEST HIM UP TO AN ascend to a height of around 36km (22.5 miles), at I am involved in every step of this project, because ed answer is what I’ll say before I jump. follow stupid orders. THING HE COULD /R ALTITUDE OF which point I will leave the capsule and accelerate 36km up I am completely on my own, and I don’t You’ve got to do something as good as, “That’s So it was an acrimonious break-up? FIND TO MAKE TRUE ttel Ö AROUND 36KM an HIS DREAMS OF in freefall to a speed of 1300kph (808mph).