Red Bull have been promising us wings for years now, but we never thought they meant it literally. In just under 2 hours, they’ll be sending an astronaut 120,000 feet in the air in a stratospheric balloon, taking him literally to the edge of space.

Staff Writer

Oct 09, 2012

What in the world is a stratospheric balloon? “Its structure consists of nothing more than some gas inside a plastic bag. It relies exclusively on natural forces: buoyancy for lift, winds for direction and gravity to descend,” say the so-called scientists at Red Bull.

Check out the live stream here!

Fearless Felix and the Red Bull Team getting ready!

Are you confused yet? Okay okay, we’ll clear things up for you a bit. The Red Bull Sratos team are sending a man, who we like to call Fearless Felix, up in a BALLOON. Once he reaches 120,000 feet, Fearless Felix (okay fine, his real name is Felix Baumgartner) will take a freefall leap back down to earth. Given the distance and something they call gravity, he’ll be hurtling towards the ground faster than the speed of SOUND. Yes, that means before we can hear his manly grunts (Fearless Felix would never scream like a girl), Baumgartner would have already landed. We don’t know what this will add to scientific research and astrophysics, but it’s bound to look effing cool. Catch the ascent and the jump live at 2.30pm TODAY on www.redbullstratos.com.