History in the making

Here I sit on this lovely (though chilly) early evening, laid up from a bad cold. I have managed to get my usual weekend gym time in but it has been pathetic with severe difficulties breathing normally so I am really praying one more night of good sleep will ensure I wake up with an easier time of it.

Today is a historic day because of the live jump more than 23 miles above the surface of the Earth on the anniversary of Chuck Yeager breaking through the sound barrier. Watching Felix Baumgartner jump from the capsule into the air was thrilling, nerve-racking and amazing. It is incredible how very far we have come in this day and age.

All of the conversations were capture via Twitter and Facebook with thousands of people watching via the Internet in real-time.

I had first heard of Felix Baumgartner planning his Red Bull Stratos jump via an in-flight magazine a few months back. At the time, I remember thinking "he is insane." I passed the article to my father to test the validity of the proposal.  My father also was shocked at the notion of jumping from a capsule so far above the earth's surface. The slightest rip in his suit could be catastrophic - it reminded me of the possible space shuttle disasters of the past.

Even Felix was tweeting as he rode all of the way up via the largest balloon ever created to carry him to space - the final tweet post-jump, "we live to conquer fears and pursue dreams, may our attempts and accomplishments progress humankind."

 

Felix pre-jump

And now for a little song I came upon via one of my favorite podcasts, the "Nerdist." Hope you like it!