Magnificent #1 by Mike Cathro

MAGNIFICENT

SUPERMAN

MAGNIFICENT

EDITORS IN CHIEF

MALCOM SMITH & DON HARPER ART DIRECTION

MIKE CATHRO EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

MIKE CATHRO PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR

SARAH BLACK & JON MILES DESIGN

ANDY PHILLIPS TYPOGRAPHY

STEPHANIE CONLEY SPECIAL PROJECTS

MATTHEW DICKSON

CONTRIBUTORS

BBC NEWS WIRED.COM FELIX BAUMGARTNER & FAMILY TEAM RED BULL STRATOS RED BULL NASA + ADDITIONAL CONTENT FROM

CRAIG HATTERSFIELD SHAUN COPSON RACHEL PALMER

MAGNIFICENT #1

1 2 MAGNIFICENT 1

P.5 TECHNOLOGY

We m e e t Fe lix B a u m ga r tn er, th e Au stria n wh o ju m ped f r o m T h e E a r th â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strato sp h e re a n d b r o ke th e s o u n d b a r rie r wh ilst d o in g i t.

P.7

We m eet th e cra ck tea m o f ex p er ts b eh i n d T h e S trato s Ju m p, f r o m th e d evel o p er s o f h i s cap s u l e to th e m a ker s o f h i s s u i t. F i n d o u t th e s ci en ce b eh i n d th i s m o nu m en to u s a ch i evem en t.

CONTENTS

34 FUTURE

P.15 INSPIRATION

Wa s Fe lix â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ju m p wo r th wh ile a n d wh at h a s i t p rove n fo r th e fu tu re d e ve lo p m e n t o f s p a c e trave l? We ta lk to th e sc ie n tists wh o a re ex ite d ab o u t th e fu tu re a n d th e ge n e ratio n o f n e w d a re d e v ils B a u m ga r tn e r h a s in sp ire d .

P.23

M e e t th e m a n wh o i n s p i r ed B a u m ga r tn er o n h is q u e st to b e c o m e th e u l ti m ate stu n tm a n , a n d th e m a n wh o g u i d ed Fel i x to su c c e ss w ith ye a r s o f k n ow l ed ge a n d ex p e rie n c e. We m e et Jo e Ki tti n ger.

MAGNIFICENT #1

EDITOR’S

EDITOR’S LETTER We l c o m e t o t h e f i r s t i s s u e o f ‘ M a g n i f i c e n t ’, a n ew ex p e r i e n c e wh i c h a i m s t o b r i n g t h e m o s t ex t ra or d i n a r y t h i n g s h o m e a n d t o yo u r eye s . We wa n t t o d e m o n s t rat e h ow a m a z i n g t h e h u m a n b o dy c a n b e a n d h ow f a r t h e human mind can stretch. O ve r t h e c o m i n g m o n t h s we w i l l b e b r i n g i n g yo u s i g h t s a n d e ve n t s t h at h ave p u s h t h e d e t e r m i n e d a n d a dve n t u r o u s t o t h e i r l i m i t , t h o s e wh o h ave a n ex q u i s at e eye f o r d e s i g n a n d t h i n g s t h at a p l a i n u n h e a r d o f. We d a r e t o b e d i f f e r e n t . I n o u r f i r s t i s s u e we m e e t Fe l i x B a u m ga r t n e r, t h e h e r o i c m a d m a n wh o j u m p e d f r o m s p a c e. We t a l k t o B a u m ga r t n e r, a n d h i s p a r t n e r a n d m e n t o r, Jo e K i t t e n ge r. T h i s wa s t h e m o s t i n c r e d i b l e t h i n g h e h a s e ve r d o n e a n d we d i s c ove r h ow h e h a s go n e on to do it.

A s wel l a s t h e ep i c even t s , ea ch m o n t h we w i l l b e b r i n g i n g yo u a r t i cl es a n d m at er i a l t h at w i l l b r i n g yo u cl o s er t o t h e s t o r y. Fr o m t ech n i ca l d et a i l i n g, t o r eco m m en d ed web s i t es , b o o k s a n d f i l m s , we w i l l p r ov i d e t h e m o s t ex p a n s e p o o l o f i n s p i rat i o n f o r yo u r t a k i n g. F i n a l ly, a n d m o s t i m p o r t a n t ly, ‘ M a g n i f i cen t ’ a i m s t o b r i n g yo u a p u b l i s h ed ex p er i en ce t h at en cap s u l at es t h e s o u r ce m at er i a l . E x p ect l u x u r y a n d h i g h ly d es i g n ed cover s a n d b o u n d a r y ed g i n g ed i t o r i a l s p r ea d s i n t h e co m i n g m o n t h s . We a i m t o b r i n g t h e h i g h es t o f q u a l i t y s t ra i g h t t o yo u . E n j oy # 1 M a l co l m . E di t or

ENGINEERED TO PERFECTION TECHNOLOGY

MAGNIFICENT #1

T I M E T O GEAR UP

NO ONE’S EVER DEVELOPED A SUIT QUITE LIKE THE ONE BAUMGARTNER KNEW HE’D NEED. - DAVID CLARK COMPANY

As the sun rises over the New Mexico desert Monday Tuesday morning, Felix Baumgartner will step into a space capsule suspended beneath an immense helium balloon and slowly ascend to the edge of the stratosphere, where he will step into the void and fall 23 miles to Earth. To do this safely, or, rather, as safely as possible, he will wear a pressurized suit designed to protect him from sub-zero temperatures, decompression sickness and the very real possibility that the liquid within his body could turn to gas, rendering him unconscious within seconds. The suit builds on everything the aerospace industry has ever known, and may well lead the way to a new generation of suits that could be worn by high-altitude pilots, astronauts and perhaps even the tourists who may one day touch the heavens. “We can learn what types of materials are needed to protect crews, what types of interfaces, etc., are needed if you’re ejecting from extreme altitude,” said Dan Barry of David Clark Company, which designed and built the suit. “If you look at the evolution of any type of protective equipment, there are things to be learned that will be directly applicable to designing the next generation of crew protecting equipment.” Baumgartner hopes to break the unofficial record Joe Kittinger, a retired Air Force colonel from Florida, set in 1960 when he jumped from 102,800 feet during Project Excelsior. Should he succeed, the 43-year-old Austrian adventurer also will claim the record for the highest manned balloon flight and the longest free fall by a skydiver. Cooler still, Baumgartner wants to become the first person to exceed the speed of sound — about 700 mph at that altitude — in free fall.

Reaching any altitude beyond 62,000 feet requires wearing a pressurized suit, otherwise, water in the body turns to gas and the body distends in what is called ebullism. No one’s ever developed a suit quite like the one Baumgartner knew he’d need, so Red Bull, his sponsor, turned to the company synonymous with space suits: the David Clark Company. The Massachusetts firm has since 1941 made many of the suits the country’s best pilots and astronauts have worn while exploring the frontiers of flight. Barry said the company has been approached “many, many times” in the past by skydivers hoping to break Kittinger’s record, but it always declined. Baumgartner, though, was different. “With Stratos, they had assembled a team of people who were experts in their subject matter,” he said. “It’s a chance to validate current equipment, and to protect future vehicles as man continues to fly higher and faster and the environment gets harsher and harsher. It’s more about the science. We have no interest in the record.” Although the suit was modeled on those worn by Air Force pilots flying high-altitude reconnaissance missions, it was adapted to provide the maneuverability Baumgartner will need to emerge from the capsule and assume the “delta” position he’ll need during his supersonic free fall. Mirrors fitted in strategic locations provide additional peripheral vision. “Typically, pressure suits are highly specialized, designed for a specific vehicle and application,” Barry said. “For U2 pilots, it provides a seated position for the crew member in an ejection seat. For the space shuttle, the crew member had to unbuckle and walk to a hatch and jump out, so it was made for mobility and field of vision. For

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TECHNOLOGY

RED BULL STRATOS SUIT FELIX BAUMGARTNER

MAGNIFICENT #1

TECHNOLOGY

UNDER PRESSURE IT’S TIME TO SUIT UP

YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. - JOE KITTINGER

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Stratos, you have to basically adopt certain body position to prevent a flat spin. We had to design the suit so it allowed Felix to position his body in a lot of different ways.” The suit has four layers: a liner, a bladder fitted to his body, mesh to keep the bladder in place and a flame-retardant exterior. The suit is pressurized to 3.5 pounds per square inch, the atmospheric pressure at 35,000 feet, and insulated to protect him from temperatures ranging from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to -90 degrees Fahrenheit. A ventilation hose provides warm or cool air, as needed, during the ascent – both to keep Baumgartner comfortable and avoid fogging his distortion-free visor. Baumgartner’s composite helmet, which weighs 8 pounds, attaches to the suit with a rotating, locking ring, as do his gloves. The visor is fitted with a retractable sunshade and an integrated heating circuit to prevent fogging, as the air temperature will be about -70 Fahrenheit when he steps from the capsule. Opening the visor requires two separate, independent movements, a redundant system designed to prevent Baumgartner from accidentally opening the visor and depressurizing his suit. Then, of course, there’s the issue of breathing. The helmet is equipped with an oxygen regulator that will provide Baumgartner with 100 percent oxygen from the capsule’s liquefied oxygen system during his ascent and a pair of gaseous oxygen tanks during his dive. A drinking port will help him satisfy the other vital need of hydration.

Given the size and bulk of the suit, Baumgartner’s life-support engineer will help him suit up before the flight to ensure everything is just right — including five cameras that will film the ride of his life. The ascent took 2 hours and 21 minutes, with Red Bull ticking off milestones as they passed: The so-called Armstrong limit at 63,000 feet, beyond which a pressurized suit is mandatory. Baumgartner’s previous test jumps from 71,000 feet in March and 97,000 feet in July. The 102,800-foot benchmark set by Kittinger. And then the 113,740-foot record, set in 1961, for the highest manned balloon flight. Outside the capsule, cameras showed the curvature of the earth — exaggerated by the wide-angle lens and the line where the blue sky of earth meets the black vastness of space. It was beautiful to behold. As the capsule passed 125,000 feet, Kittinger and Baumgartner began preparing for the jump — disconnecting his suit from the capsule’s oxygen system, stowing equipment and the like. Then it was time. Five years of training and countless millions of dollars — all of it provided by Red Bull, his sponsor — had come to this. “OK Felix, we’re depressurizing the capsule,” Kittinger said. “Your guardian angel will take care of you.” “The door will not open,” Baumgartner replied a moment later. Kittinger, ever calm, told Baumgartner the pressure inside and outside the capsule hadn’t yet equalized. The capsule dangled in near vacuum beneath a whisper-thin balloon that had expanded to 30 million cubic feet. “OK,” came the response, crackling over the radio. A camera showed Felix waiting patiently as the capsule continued rising.

THE NEXT BIG STEP FUTURE

MAGNIFICENT #1

T O T H E FUTURE

“He demonstrated that a man could survive in an extremely high altitude escape situation,” Mr. Kittinger said. “Future astronauts will wear the spacesuit that Felix test-jumped today.” Mr. Baumgartner was backed by a NASA-style mission control operation at an airfield in Roswell that involved 300 people, including more than 70 engineers, scientists and physicians who have been working for five years on the project, called Red Bull Stratos, after the drink company that has financed it. Besides aiming at records, the engineers and scientists on the Red Bull Stratos team have been gathering and publishing reams of data intended to help future pilots, astronauts and perhaps space tourists survive if they have to bail out. “We’re testing new spacesuits, escape concepts and treatment protocols for pressure loss at extreme altitudes,” said the Red Bull Stratos medical director, Dr. Jonathan Clark, who formerly oversaw the health of space shuttle crews at NASA. “There are so many things that could go wrong here that we’re pushing the technical envelope.” While building the customized suit and capsule, the team of aerospace veterans had to contend with one crucial uncertainty: What happens to the human body when it breaks the sound barrier? There was also one major unexpected problem for Mr. Baumgartner, known to his fans as Fearless Felix. Although he had no trouble jumping off buildings and bridges, and soaring across the English Channel in a carbon-fiber wing, he found himself suffering panic attacks when forced to spend hours inside the pressurized suit and helmet. At one point in 2010, rather than take an endurance test in it, he went to an airport and

fled the United States. With the help of a sports psychologist and other specialists, he learned techniques for dealing with the claustrophobia. One of the techniques Mr. Baumgartner developed was to stay busy throughout the ascent. He conversed steadily with Mr. Kittinger, a former fighter pilot whose deep voice exuded the right stuff as he confidently went through a 40-item checklist rehearsing every move that Mr. Baumgartner would make when it came time to leave the capsule. When the actual moment came, Mr. Kittinger said to him, “All right, step up on the exterior step. Start the cameras. And our guardian angel will take care of you now.” that’s what I call pushing the limit!” tweeted British astronaut Tim Peake, who works for the European Space Agency. Metaphorical slaps on the back also came from the European and American space agencies. “Congrats Felix Baumgartner and #spacejump team. We’re working on supersonic flight for the rest of us with a plane!” tweeted officials at Nasa’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, which is trying to design supersonic planes for the future. Brian Utley of the FAI, the international federation that certifies aerospace records, calculated the height and speed of the jump by independently analyzing data gathered on microchips in Mr. Baumgartner’s suit. After a thorough analysis of the data is made over the next several weeks, Mr. Utley said, the precise official figures might be slightly different, but he had no doubt that Mr. Baumgartner had set a supersonic speed record.

As the balloon rose in the sky, viewers from around the world went to YouTube to watch a live video stream from the capsule and mission control. By the time Mr. Baumgartner made his leap into space, the audience grew to a peak of eight million. At the point of his leap, there were only three people further away from the Earth than Baumgartner: the astronauts on the International Space Station. Which perhaps explains the palpable sense of gratitude towards him in the aviation and space industry. “Felix is a truly brave explorer, and his jump will benefit space exploration,” wrote George Whitesides of Virgin Galactic, a private space tourism firm that has taken 500 bookings for space flights at $200,000 a seat. As nations retreat from the costly business of funding ambitious space programmes that have no obvious payback for the taxpayer, the private sector has been filling the gap. Partly, it is about conquering new frontiers – but there are many who see space as the logical next step in mankind’s restless search for fresh, often extreme, experiences, now that climbing Everest or reaching the Poles are within relatively easy reach for millionaires with money to burn. When London hosted a European space tourism conference this summer, the agenda not only featured updates from four commercial companies, including Virgin Galactic, that hope to start flights by the end of 2013, but also from an asset management company, Allianz Global, about its planned travel insurance products for space travellers. Among the delegates was Per Wimmer, a London-based financier who longs to be the first Dane in space and has, correspondingly, booked

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FUTURE

GETTING COSY FELIX EXAMINES POD CONDITIONS

LOOKING COOL FELIX BAUMGARTNER

MAGNIFICENT #1

FUTURE

FALLING BACKWARDS (TOP) BAUMGARTNER PRACTICES SOLID GROUND (BOTTOM) SAFE LANDING FOR DAREDEVIL

THIS IS NOT JUST MARKETING HYPE. - RED BULL

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not just one seat but three. He has contracts with three different companies – Virgin Galactic, Xcor and Space Adventures – to be one of the first passengers in their departure lounge. “You could say I’m fully hedged,” quips Wimmer, a self-confessed space fanatic who counts the Bransons and Buzz Aldrin among his friends, and chose to open his investment bank on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. Wimmer is also an adventurer: in 2008, he completed the first tandem skydive above Mount Everest, and has bought a trip to see the Titanic in a Mir submersible. Baumgartner’s exploits, he says, will have a direct bearing on his own cosmic ambitions: “What Felix has done is fantastic as an adventure, but it’s also important in terms of pushing the science, because of his spacesuit, and I’m waiting for the analysis on that. He went through the speed of sound unprotected except for his suit, and it’s good to know that if things go wrong up there, then the spacesuits will give some protection.” Baumgartner’s suit, designed by the company that Nasa uses, was custom-made to cope with conditions at 128,000 feet. It was also designed to be manoeuvrable in a way that most off theshelf spacesuits aren’t – a fact that might have saved his life as he went into a worrying spin in the first part of his descent. For those preferring to go up rather than down, there is already a history of sending paying passengers where few have boldly gone before. The Virginia-based company Space Adventures has brokered deals with the Russian space agency to send seven space tourists, each paying upwards of $20 million, to the International Space Station on Soyuz rockets, alongside cosmonauts. These included Charles Simonyi, a software billionaire, Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, and Anousheh Ansari, the Iranian co-founder of a telecoms company and the only woman so far. Last week, it emerged that the singer Sarah Brightman has just booked, and is about to start six months’ training. Other companies, conscious that picky travellers might want a destination worthy of the trip, are exploring the viability of hotels in space:

Bigelow Aerospace, for example, has snapped up discarded Nasa plans for inflatable, orbiting hotels. Dr Geoff Busswell, who organised the space tourism conference, says that space will not always be a haven for the moneyed: “Virgin Galactic predicts that the cost of a trip will halve to $100,000 after the first year of operation, so just as with air travel, the rich will pave the way for the rest of us.” Indeed, given the astronomical price tag, lengthy training regime and considerable risk of burning up on re-entry, dispatching civilians to orbiting space stations will probably never constitute a viable business proposition. Instead, the goal is to cross the Kármán Line, about 62 miles up, which is the internationally accepted boundary between Earth and space (and is almost three times higher than Baumgartner’s balloon reached). This altitude offers much of the allure of space travel – weightlessness, seeing the curvature of the planet – without the drawbacks of going into orbit. And slowly but surely, the industry is getting there. It’s been eight years since SpaceShipOne, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, made its pioneering flight, becoming the first non-governmental plane to take three people up to the Kármán Line and back again, making the flight twice within two weeks to earn a $10 million prize. Virgin Galactic, which bought the technology, recently completed its 100th test flight. Indeed, the field has been energised by a new breed of backers, who see the future of space only in terms of scientific hurdles yet to be overcome. Says Wimmer: “Between 2000 and 2003, the media were really sceptical and kept asking me, ‘Isn’t space tourism just about fancy Powerpoints and wannabe rockets?’ But now we’re at the point where something really might happen. We’ve been living in an 11km band – we’ve gone one kilometre down in the ocean, and we can go up 10km in planes. There’s nothing to discover on Earth any more; no matter how remote you go, you always find a Coca-Cola dispenser. We’ve really got to push the boundaries up, and space tourism is the way to do it.” Which makes one wonder what a Felix Baumgartner can possibly do next.

MAGNIFICENT #1

MENTOR AND GUARDIAN JOE KITTINGER

INSPIRATION

IN GOOD HANDS

INSPIRATION

1960: Air Force Capt. Joe Kittinger parachutes from an open gondola tethered to a helium balloon from an altitude of 102,800 feet -more than 19 miles. It remains the highest altitude jump ever attempted. Kittinger’s jump was no stunt but rather part of Project Excelsior, established by the U.S. Air Force to study the problems presented to pilots by high-altitude escape. He already made two jumps -- from 76,400 feet and 74,600 feet -- before strapping it on for the big one. The Air Force came away with statistical data from his Aug. 16 jump that, even now, makes for eye-opening reading. Wearing a pressurized suit, Kittinger jumped from the gondola at 102,800 feet. Was in freefall for four-and-a-half minutes and was clocked at a maximum speed of 714 mph, faster than the speed of sound, before deploying his chute at 17,500 feet. Experienced temperatures as low as minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit during freefall. Landed, safe and sound, on the floor of the New Mexico desert 13 minutes and 45 seconds after leaving the

gondola. Set several records that are still on the books -- highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest freefall and fastest freefall speed. But Kittinger, 29 years old at the time of his jump, wasn’t through with high places or risk-taking. In 1962, Kittinger, accompanied by a U.S. Navy civilian astronomer, piloted a balloon into the upper atmosphere to 82,200 feet, so a high-powered telescope could be used to take a closer look at deep space. During the Vietnam War, Kittinger returned to combat flying and commanded the 555th “Triple Nickel” Tactical Fighter Squadron, shooting down a MiG-21 in a dogfight. He was subsequently shot down himself and spent 11 months as a POW at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” Since Kittinger’s jump, a number of pretenders have announced plans to eclipse the record. So far, none have. The 43-year-old former paratrooper topped the unofficial record retired Air Force Col. Joe Kittinger, now 84, set in 1960 when he jumped from 102,800 feet during

Project Excelsior. The record-setting dive from 24.2 miles above Roswell, New Mexico, came 65 years to the day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket. His mission was marred only by a faulty heating circuit in his visor and a tumble as he began his descent. “Couldn’t have done it any better myself,” Kittinger, Baumgartner’s mentor and the only person in communication with him during the mission, said over the radio. Baumgartner achieved three of the four records he was after, falling short of taking the benchmark for longest free fall away from Kittinger. All of the records are yet to be ratified by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which according to the BBC had a representative in Roswell. The Austrian, whose mission had been twice delayed by weather, lifted off at 9:31 a.m. Mountain time as his parents — making their first trip beyond Europe — and hundreds of well-wishers watched from Roswell and millions more watched online. Inside the capsule, Baumgartner smiled broadly at liftoff and gave the “No. 1 sign with his finger as mission control erupted in applause and cheers.

EATEN BY THE EARTH HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO SAVE YOUR OWN LIFE?

MARCH

NAMREPUS

TNECIFINGAM