December 20, 2022 My, How Time Flies

The Liberty Gazette

December 20, 2022

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years since we pulled over on a freeway to watch the live broadcast of Austrian Felix Baumgartner making the ultimate base jump – from the edge of space. A space jump. He broke three records that day. His was the highest manned balloon flight and the highest freefall, and in that freefall, he was the first to break the speed of sound (without an aircraft), which is around 761 mph (depending on a few factors, such as temperature and humidity). Sixty-five years to the day after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, Felix dove 846 mph, breaking the sound barrier with his body before pulling his chute and landing in the New Mexico desert.

The extraordinary leap, which required the cooperation of the U.S. Air Force, the FAA, NASA, and other agencies, was seven years in the making. Red Bull sponsored the project called “Stratos” which contributed to technological advancements as difficult problems were solved on the turbulent path to success. 

The two-hour documentary, “Mission to the Edge of Space,” poignantly demonstrates team accomplishments versus solo accomplishments, something so important that it can mean the difference between life and death. Living and breathing the team concept so deeply that it is part of you will determine the success of any non-solo venture. And that’s where the crux of the problems arose, in lack of trust, because Felix had come from a solo career. But he learned through his mistakes, through his fears, claustrophobia and anxiety, that this was not like solo base jumping. At one point, several years into the project, he walked out – went back to Austria, because he could not handle being confined in the spacesuit. He had a lot to learn. 

The team was built with the best of the best experts in skydiving, ballooning, meteorology, space medicine, life support, capsule engineering, communications, and high performance. Dr. Jonathan Clark served as the Medical Director. He had been the Space Shuttle Crew Surgeon on six missions. He lost his wife, Dr. Laurel Clark, an astronaut on the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle. After that, he made it his mission to figure out ways to make it safer, and he had become an expert in understanding crew escape. He feels that the crew escape options they know about today could have potentially saved his wife and the rest of the Columbia crew. He was determined to implement everything he had learned for Felix’s safety.

The documentary also gives considerable airtime to Col. Joe Kittinger, USAF (Ret.), trained as a fighter pilot, and an aerospace legend whose world record set in 1960 was what Felix sought to break. Felix could not have made the jump without Joe.

You owe yourself the gift of watching what went on behind the scenes. For those who pay attention, the film graciously gives lessons on teamwork, duty and accountability, confidence and trust, all of which apply to so many aspects of life. Your two-hour investment could reap indefinite rewards. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/films/mission-to-the-edge-of-space.

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