Photo: Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull Stratos was one of those events that we just couldn’t wait for it to happen. With all of the videos that were released and every image that was sent out, it was an event that was going to blow minds. For those of you that don’t know anything about Red Bull Stratos, read on…

So, in an over simplified way, Red Bull Stratos is essentially one man attempting break the record for the highest ever sky dive. Whilst doing this the crazy person who’s attempting to break this record is going to break the speed of sound upon his extremely fast descent. Sounds crazy right? You’d be correct in agreeing. It is crazy.
The man who is going to be attempting this feat is Felix Baumgartner – certified ‘crazy-enough’ to go through with it and have a stomach that’s stronger than diamonds!

http://mpora.com/videos/V3Wf1eCgF
MPORA Action Sports

The reason I’m writing about this now is because we were so excited about it happening that we posted up every video we could find, gave everyone regular updates and then it just went cold. No news was heard and we thought the worst may have happened to Felix during training. There were rumours about not being able to do it in American airspace, rumours that they hadn’t verified where the edge of space was, things like that. We never found out the real reason and we just don’t care because it’s back! Red Bull Stratos is back for 2012!

Mpora HQ received a press release this morning that stated Felix was ready to go, ready to ‘freefall from space’. His jump from 120,000ft is going to be only one of four records that he will be attempting to break (four records are: highest manned balloon flight, free-fall from the highest altitude, first person to hit supersonic speed whilst in free-fall and longest free-fall duration). The tech team from Red Bull have been testing their gear at the Brooks City base in Texas (see video below) and they’ve given it the all clear. There’s only one thing that remains – the jump itself.
They’re planning for the jump to go ahead this year and it seems much more promising after the hiatus of last year so we’re looking forward to seeing some ridiculous video footage!

http://mpora.com/videos/XkvFvglFT
Red Bull Stratos 2012: Brooks Test

I’ll make sure you get all the updates as soon as I hear anything more!