Friday, October 12, 2012

Supersonic space balloon next to Statue of Liberty

Extreme jumper Felix Baumgartner didn't jump from a record 120,000 feet above the earth on Tuesday, but the jump is still on for Sunday, October 14 at 8:30 am EDT from Roswell.

Red Bull is sponsoring this effort, and in the meantime designed a true-to-scale graphic comparing the space balloon to the Statue of Liberty.

The space balloon is the biggest balloon ever made at 334.82 feet tall. According to Red Bull, that's as much as a 55-story high building and taller than the Statue of Liberty, which is 305 feet including the base and the pedestal.

Baumgartner's balloon can hold 30 million cubic foot (843,497 cubic meters) of helium gas.

According to the Stratos live feed, Gizmodo reports, the balloon used to lift Baumgartner to 120,000 feet above the surface of the Earth on Tuesday was too sensitive to handle "gusty winds" any faster than 2 miles per hour.

Most skydives are undertaken from an altitude between 3,000 and 15,000 feet.

For more of the Gizmodo story: gizmodo.com

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