Daredevil
“Fearless Felix” Baumgartner broke skydiving world records Sunday, jumping from
a giant balloon 24 miles up, then free-falling to speeds over 800 miles per
hour. That’s what you have to resort to
when your airline has blackout days for your frequent-flyer-miles.
Felix
was free-falling for over 4 straight minutes, and for part of that he was spinning
completely out of control. This means
that he’s now qualified to make a comeback next year as a judge on The X
Factor.
He
traveled faster than the speed of sound, which was his whole objective. Not just to be the first person to do it
without a vehicle or craft, but to be able to blame the sounds of panicked
screaming on a guy he claims was a thousand feet behind him.
He
fell 24 Miles straight down. Men are
impressed by this. Women are convinced
he’d have landed faster if he’d stopped and asked for directions.
The entire stunt was sponsored by Red Bull, which is surprising, because they didn't give him wings.
Some spectators said the whole idea of a man risking his life for
a little fame left a bad taste in their mouths.
And there’s your tie-in with Red Bull.
Because Red Bull orchestrated everything, Felix was expected to
get to a high very quickly, but then crash hard and burn out.
