Do you think Felix Baumgartner is an idiot or a cool dude for doing what he did? I tend to side with the cool dude theory, but I don’t want to do what he did.
Saturday, the Austrian skydiver made the longest parachute jump ever and lived to tell about it. Baumgartner jumped more than 24 miles before landing on his feet in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico. During his descent the man known as “Fearless Felix” broke the sound barrier–the first person to do so without flying a jet. He traveled at a speed of 833.9 mph, or the equivalent of traveling the length of a football in one second.
Two aspects stood out for me.
First, I love the idea of doing things never done before and making progress. I believe God made us to think, dream, learn, and dare. While jumping from 24 miles may not fulfill huge gaps of scientific knowledge, the jump will help in a number of areas. For one, NASA will use the data to help improve its blueprints for future spacesuits.
The other aspect was sobering for me and for Baumgartner.
Second, he talked about his mortality. He talked about not wanting to die in front of his parents and girlfriend and with all those people watching. Some informed observers thought he wouldn’t live as he began the “death spin” in which he spun out of control for about 30 seconds. “While I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive.”
When I heard those words, I thought about the universal desire to live and to have life. That’s the unbelievable gift Jesus came to give us. He came to give us life abundant and real.
When I meditate on what Jesus gave us, I see four wonderful aspects. It is life, it is filled with quality, it is eternal, and it is free. What a gift!
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2 Responses
Wow! If you would like to see this event I have pasted the location and an excerpt below. Traveling a football field a second, wow.
At the end of the video he is on his knees with his hands held high, the narrator comments, how appropriate. Wow!
http://nvonews.com/2012/10/15/felix-baumgartner-space-jump-2012-breaks-sound-barrier-video-highlights/
Baumgartner has created a record by becoming the first skydiver to break the sound barrier without a vehicle. As per the available data, the BASE jumper has performed the highest manned balloon flight at 39.045 kms on Sunday. He is now the fastest person to hit the earth after a sky jump. At a speed of 1,342 km per hour, Baumgartner is 17 seconds shy of the U.S. skydiver Joseph Kittinger, who made a jump in 4 minutes, 36 seconds for a U.S. Air Force mission in 1960.
“It was harder than I expected,” Mr. Baumgartner said after the historic jump. “Trust me, when you stand up there on top of the world, you become so humble. It’s not about breaking records any more. It’s not about getting scientific data. It’s all about coming home.”
Ascent and Jump; Challenges and Success The daredevil skydiver ascended into an altitude of 128,100 feet by a helium balloon. It hauled the high-tech capsule, which housed the diver. However, it hasn’t been a completely smooth dive. Engineers even thought of aborting the mission in the wake that the skydiver’s faceplate started fogging while ascending. Baumgartner wanted to continue and make the jump blind. Well, in the end, it is a massive success as the skydiver could hit the land healthily.
Later, in the thin air of stratosphere, Baumgartner started spinning out of control. It was the same trouble faced by Mr. Kittinger 50 years back and it nearly killed the American during his sky dive. But, when the atmosphere begun to thicken up, the diver could manage to end spin and dive calmly down. He opened his parachute one mile above the land and hit the New Mexico desert safely.
Thanks!
Blessings.
Compared to some activities done without support, his was relatively risk free. Consider Joseph Kittinger or Chuck Yeager. To answer your question, yes.
There is a u-tube in flight video of a fellow who body sailed down a mountain I saw last year before opening his chute. I wonder if he is still alive. I marvel more at him, if it is real, and no, I would not do it, cool as it looks. I’ve seen the view from 70,000’, 13+ miles up. It is one of my treasured memories of the world and our atmosphere transitioning into space. From 200+ feet below the surface looking up is interesting too.
Psalms 139
Blessings!