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A trip to the edge of space. RedBull is all about doing projects that break all kinds of records.
RedBull stratos has to be one of RedBull’s most ambitious projects. Check out some facts below.

The Project
The Red Bull Stratos Project was the first non-governmental mission to put a man on the edge of space.  The purpose of the mission was to gather valuable information on how the body copes with the extreme conditions near space.

The Man
Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian skydiver and daredevil, held several world records before being approached for the Red Bull Stratos Project in 2005, including a world record for BASE jumping in West Virginia.

The Capsule
The capsule weighed approximately 2,900 pounds and consisted of four main components–the pressure sphere, shell, cage, and the base and crush pads.

The Suit
The suit was specially designed to withstand the high-altitude jump.  Felix reportedly suffered from extreme claustrophobia while wearing the suit and had to seek the help of a sports psychologist to overcome the issue.

Preparation
The preparation for the project began in 2005 and took more than 7 years.

Test Jumps
he team performed two test jumps in preparation for the project.  The first from an altitude of 71,581 feet on March 15, 2012 and the second from an altitude of 97,145 on July 25, 2012.

On A Mission
On October 14, 2012, Felix jumped from an altitude of 128,100 feet; breaking the record for the highest freefall as well as the highest manned balloon flight.

Freefall
Felix’s jump lasted for just over 9 minutes, with nearly five of those being in freefall.  Felix stated that he nearly lost consciousness during the fall due to uncontrollable spinning.

The Landing
Felix’s parachute weighed more than 60 pounds and had to be custom made.  Before his jump in 2012, no parachute could be guaranteed for jumps higher than 25,000 feet.

Record-Breaking Statistics
Felix was the first man to break the sound of speed in freefall.  His supersonic fall reportedly reached a speed of nearly 834 mph.

Intellivison
Mattel released the intellivision, the first challenge to Atari’s dominance and the start of an early 80’s console war between Atari and Mattel.  The intellivision features slightly better graphics than the Atari 2600, plus it offered synthesized voices in video games.

Game Boy
Nintendo scores another smash hit with the introduction of the Game Boy in 1989.  It was the first major handheld game console of it’s kind.  It featured an 8-bit CPU like its parent system, the NES and the black and white LCD screen.  The game Tetris made sales of this console go through the roof.

Neo-Geo
The debut of SNk’s 24-bit in 1990 marks a home-system that is years ahead of its competitors.  Huge detailed 2-D graphics, the Neo-Geo’s appeal is at arcade-level quality used at home, however it’s $650 price for a new system kept it from achieving mass popularity.

Super NES
After getting beaten to the punch to the 16-bit by Sega Genesis, Nintendo released a new system in 1991.  The Super NES catches up to the Genesis thanks to it’s slight technological superiority and the strength of existing Nintendo brands.

Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64 release marks the last mass-market system to use cartridges.  Even though cartridges are more expensive, the Nintendo 64 cartridges load much faster than CD-ROM games.  The Nintendo 64 lacks the broad range of games released for the PlayStation, but scores big with other games.

Playstation 2
Sony releases the first 128-bit system featuring backwards compatibility and play older 32-bit PlayStation games on the PS2.  The PS2 will become the most popular console games being played over high-speed internet connections.

Xbox
Microsoft makes its first independent foray into the console market with the release of the Xbox in 2001.  The Xbox console allows for greater performance when compared to other 128-bit consoles like the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube, but sales are still below the Playstation 2.

GameBoy Advance
Game Boy’s evolution is the Game Boy Advance, a backwards-compatible portable system that plays games from both the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color portable consoles.  The LCD screen can display more than 32,000 colors and it also has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and folding case.

Nintendo DS
Nintendo released the Nintendo DS in an attempt to integrate more computing functions.  The DS features dual screens and touch-screen technology similar to that of a PDA or a tablet PC.

Playstation Portable
Sony released the Playstation Portable in 2005.  Like the Nintendo PSP, this device features wireless capability, high-quality graphics, and non gaming functions like photo storage and digital audio/video capabilities that mimic those of PC-based handheld devices.

Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant
The effects of the Fukushima earthquake in Japan is said to be the longest-lasting nuclear danger in the world. Considered to be the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the incident caused the meltdown of three reactors allowing for a severe radiation leak detected 200 miles away from the plant.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
A heavily contaminated place, Chernobyl is home to one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents. Through the years, the radiation accident in Chernobyl has affected six million people in the area and is projected to cause anywhere between 4,000 to 93,000 deaths.

Zapadnyi Mining and Chemical Combine
Mailuu-Suu is considered as one of the most polluted sites in the world. Unlike other radioactive places, this place does not derive its radiation from nuclear bombs or power plants but from large-scale uranium mining and processing activities, contributing to about 1.96 million cubic meters of nuclear waste in the area.

The Polygon
The Polygon in Kazakhstan is most famous for its atomic bomb project. This uninhabited place was converted into a facility where the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear bomb, which currently holds the record for the largest concentration of nuclear explosions in the world. Some 200,000 are currently suffering from the effects of this radiation.

Siberian Chemical Combine
The Siberian Chemical Combine accounts for about 125,000 tons of solid waste contaminating ground waters in the area. A study also shows that wind and rain carry off these contaminants to wildlife, causing high levels of mortality among animals.

Sellafield Power Plant
Before it was converted into a commercial territory, Sellafield, UK used to be a plutonium production facility for nuclear bombs. Today, around two thirds of the buildings that can be found in Sellafield are considered radioactively contaminated. This facility releases about eight million liters of contaminated waste every day, contaminating landscapes and causing deaths among nearby dwellers.

Mayak Production Association
Mayak, Russia has been home to a massive nuclear plant for decades. It all began in 1957, when approximately 100 tons of radioactive waste was released into the environment by a fatal accident that led to an explosion contaminating a massive area.

The Somali Coast
Some claim that the soil of the unprotected Somalian coast has been used by the mafia for the burial of nuclear waste and toxic metals which includes 600 barrels of toxic materials. True enough, when a tsunami hit the coastline in 2004, several decades-old rusting barrels were recovered.

In the Middle of the Mediterranean Sea
A syndicate controlled by the Italian mafia is believed to use the Mediterranean Sea as a dumping site for hazardous radioactive waste. It is said that about 40 ships of toxic and radioactive waste sail through the Mediterranean, leaving large amounts of nuclear waste in the oceans.

Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site
Hanford, an integral part of the US atomic bomb project, manufactured plutonium for the nuclear bomb that was eventually launched in Nagasaki, Japan. Though the plutonium supplies were decommissioned, about two thirds of the volume was left in Hanford, causing groundwater contamination.