| Your comment reminded me of something I saw in grade-school that was probably the biggest inspiration in sticking with USASA (Red Bull is a long-time sponsor) for so long. Red Bull Stratos: 'A high altitude skydiving project' - Baumgartner flew approximately 39 kilometres (24 mi) into the stratosphere over New Mexico, United States, in a helium balloon before free falling in a pressure suit and then parachuting to Earth. - Baumgartner broke the unofficial record for the highest manned balloon flight of 37,640 m (123,491 ft) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I&t=3s Interestingly enough: Alan Eustace, a former SVP of Engineering at Google surpassed that record (2) years later (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Eustace) - On October 24, 2014, he made a free-fall jump from the stratosphere, breaking Felix Baumgartner's world record. - The jump was from 135,890 feet (41.42 km) and lasted 15 minutes, an altitude record that stands as of 2023 (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Stratos
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Eustace |