About Gary King

I’m a writer, speaker and lover of all things that raise the heartbeat and tickle the senses. If there is one thing that I’ve learnt from my years of extreme sport and adventure travel is that life is for living - not spectating.

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Red Bull Stratos Sky Dive from the Edge of Space

By Gary King on 25 January 2010 15:31:40

This is a great story and one I know a little bit about because I had a chat with Steve Truglia, a British stuntman, who has been planning to jump from the edge of space for some years now. Check out his website here. He's had trouble funding the record breaking attempt and his main competition has been from another Frenchman, a 64 year old retired colonel called Michel Fournier who is planning to launch in May 2010. On his last attempt his balloon went up without him. Steve Truglia is still looking for a major sponsor to fund the bid. I wish him luck.

Amongst the myriad of problems facing these would-be edge of space jumpers is the need to get through the jet stream in order to get to 120,000+ feet in the first place. This needs to be done by popping through a 'window' that is only available at various times and in certain parts of the world. There's also the issue of the lack of air at this altitude. This is why they need to wear space suits - otherwise they'd quickly succumb to a rather nasty demise.

Somewhat incredibly the record for a jump from this altitude was set nearly fifty years ago by former Air Force pilot Joseph Kittinger on 16th August 1960. This man was really pushing the boundaries of adventure and endeavour as nothing like this had ever been done before. During the descent his glove split making his hand swell to twice its normal size. He landed however and in doing so set a record that still stands today.

Red Bull recently announced that Felix Baumgartner will attempt the jump. Billed as the Red Bull Stratos mission it might see Kittinger's record at last fall.