Baumgartner Jumps from 25 Mile Altitude; Gets You Thinking...

pic of Baumgartner jumping-- taken from CNN broadcast of the feed.

I'm watching the safe, successful 25 mile high parachute jump by Felix Baumgartner with enthusiasm and awe. 

It reminds me of the old days, of the Mercury and Apollo astronaut programs. 

His spacesuit worked. The 43 safety checks worked. 

pic shared on twitter. Not sure of attribution.

Redbull's sponsorship looks like it definitely worked.  Baumgartner jumped from over 125,000 feet, testing a new high pressure space suit. It was thrilling to watch him zero the pressure of the balloon capsule, sit on the portal of the capsule, then jump, with expectations he'd exceed, for the first time in parachute jumping history, the speed of sound. 

He jumped. He landed. All went well. It was quite thrilling.

This successful jump reminds me of the hopes and dreams of the space program back in the sixties. We need to get back to that head and heart space. 

This reminds me how sadly far the visions, hopes and plans for space exploration have fallen since I was a young man, reading science fiction, watching the Sci-Fi stories becoming reality. 

We need an aggressive, robust space program, not just for science, not just for the commercial spin-offs that come from space technology development, but also for the hope and inspiration we experience when we observe courageous people who are at the cutting edge of human performance. 

Maybe this work will require corporate sponsorship. Maybe not. But we must ramp up the exploration of space. Perhaps the best way will be to bring many nations together to work on projects, as has been done with the space station. 

We need to get back to believing that humans (preferably not corporations, not single government) will land on and colonize the moon and mars, will travel to the furthest reaches of the universe. 

Perhaps, the greed and corporate privatization and set of priorities our nations now operate under are natural limiting factors that are preventing humans from expanding beyond the earth's surface until the insane practices and policies are shed, and humankind metamorphoses to a wiser, less predatory, less destructive nature.

Unlike the sixties, we now have twitter, so we can share our thoughts.

 

I looked at hashtags:

# livejump 

# stratos

# spacejump

# Baumgartner

# redbullstratos

@ JonnyDodge : Amazing GIF of Felix Baumgartner jumping from the edge of space.  # livejump   # redbullstratos http:// twitpic.com/b470qy  

Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner and @ RedBullStratos on a record-breaking leap from the edge of space! http://www. redbullstratos.com/live    # livejump

Never accept your limitations - because there are NO limitations. Viva Felix! # spacejump

Not only did Felix Baumgartner break the sound barrier, he's the first man who will never have to pay for beer again. # spacejump

My daughter just asked "Has a girl ever done that? Because I want to be the first" Yeah. # livejump

"If you never try, then you'll never know", Speed of Sound, Coldplay. # Baumgartner  http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=TahH7B _aUZc&noredirect=1   "

# baumgartner congrats. You did something insanely stupid and now you're in the guinessbook next to the guy with the long fingernails.

Here is the camera tech behind Felix's jump @ RedBullStratos http://www. redbullstratos.com/m/technology/c ameras-communications/   "  # r3d # cineflex