October 14th, 2012 Update: In honor of Felix Baumgartner’s live attempt to make his historic jump I am re posting this. You can view his live attempt HERE.
Originally Published on April 4th, 2012.
In late January I was commissioned to do a photo shoot at the Redbull Startos lab for Popular Science. My assignment was to document the most advanced space suite ever built. Felix Baumgartner will be wearing this suit as he makes his historic free fall jump from 120,000 feet in the stratosphere sometime later this year.
It was an honor to meet the people that are working on this project. As well, it was truly amazing to see all the crazy stuff they had going on there. Take for example the…oh crap…I can’t say more. Both my assistant and I had to sign NDA’s (non disclosure agreements) on some of the additional stuff that was going on there. I wasn’t allowed to photograph anything beyond my assigned shoot. Which I respected.
One thing that I can talk about – but could not photograph – is the pod that Felix will be taken to the edge of the stratosphere in for this jump. You can see images of it on their website. They allowed me to sit inside of it and then walked me through the entire process, including what is going through his mind as he prepares to disconnect himself form the internal air supply, then step out on the ledge and jump in an attempt to become the first person to break the speed of sound with their body alone. I would be freaking out if I had to look straight down 120,000 feet back to earth. But that is why I am the photographer and he is the one doing the jump.
This was definitely one of those shoots where I felt blessed to have the job I do. To be able to go into a completely foreign environment and meet some amazingly talented people who are passionate about a project. I dig that drive that pushes you. Especially the kind that sends you to the stratosphere.
You can see the two page spread (above) in the May 2012 issue of Popular Science.
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