Tomorrow morning (October 9th) at 5AM Pacific, Felix Baumgartner will attempt to break the speed of sound in a 120,000 feet freefall, culminating in five years of planning and training. The historic jump aims to be highest sky dive on record, eclipsing the 102,800 jump made by Joseph Kittinger in "Project Excelsior" over 50 years ago. Kitteinger is an advisor for the Redbull Stratos mission. Baumgartner has made two successful test jumps in preparation for tomorrow's attempt, which was originally scheduled for this morning but delayed due to an unexpected cold front.
You'll be able to watch Baumgartner's jump live on the Stratos mission homepage, made possible by the incredible amount of technical equipment loaded on board the capsule. The capsule itself will not only project Baumgartner from sub-zero conditions in the stratosphere, but also act as a high-tech production studio, capturing high-definition video with "space-rated cameras" from multiple angles and relaying footage and data to a base of operations 23 miles away on the ground. The balloon itself is more than four times taller than a typical hot-air balloon at 102 meters and holding over 800,000 cubic meters of helium. Redbull has poured millions into the mission, which hopes to gather data that could contribute to the development of new life-saving measures for high-altitude pilots, astronauts, and even future space tourists. Good luck, Felix.