I "fell" for Red Bull/Space jump PR campaign

reply to post by 3Dplus

Was someone holding a gun to your head, forcing you to watch?

I watched it, but it still won't change the fact that I'm a "Monster" fan. Red Bull's prices are too high for the size of their cans anyway.

I think this article is a load of rubbish, to be honest. It appears to simply be taking a negative stance for the sake of writing an article, and it is rather contradictory at times. For example, the author criticises the lack of technology by claiming that "The most complicated pieces of kit he used, by far, were the cameras", then in the very next paragraph, they downplay any danger because the suit "was the finest high-tech engineering from across the world brought together".

Then there was the whining about the lack of danger breaking the 'sound barrier' (the many aircraft pilots who lost their lives may disagree), even though Red Bull themselves had addressed the reasons why the 'sound barrier' posed little threat to felix.

Fortunately, the impact of shock waves becomes less severe with higher altitude, because air becomes less dense. And once an object passes through that imaginary "sound barrier" to catch up with and surpass the speed of sound, flight is smooth.

It's not Red Bull's fault that the author was lacking in knowledge or simply ignorant of this information. They further show their ignorance by claiming that they spent millions in "an effort to make it seem at once hare-brained and colossally dangerous", when they never made any such claims. The author then claims that is is "suspicious free advertising", when it really is not suspicious at all. They were providing the funding, so of course they are advertising their brand! I really don't see how this can be a suprise to anyone?

I also think that anyone complaining about the use of funds for this spectacle needs a reality check. The ~$30 million spent is a mere fraction of what's being spent on the current presidential elections, yet I would say that the experience and knowledge gained from this spectacle is of far greater value than a ridiculous popularity campaign. So I say congratulations to Felix and Red Bull! And I don't even like Red Bull

The article makes it look like such a jump was a piece of cake.

We can debate the "real life" usefulness of this jump, but it DEF was not a piece of cake.
In fact, IF the suit would have failed, it would've been a catastrophe..the story of blood boiling etc. is not made-up, it's a simple fact.

There could've been situations where some crucial things could've gone out of control, after all, it WAS a lot of tech involved...equipment CAN fail...and in such a situation, 40km high up in the atmosphere even a minor failure could be quite a disaster.

This article looks like just another opinion of those "armchair space jumpers" who assume it's all that easy and how they would've jumped etc......but i can see it's being an ENTIRE different story being enclosed in a tiny "can", being sent up 40mls for 2 hours...and then have the fricking guts to jump down and relying that your chute works etc.etc...and the danger of spinning and losing control/consciousness was a real one as well.

I really thought that article was dumb.

Originally posted by 3Dplus
It was indeed money spent, as well as my time wasted.

Well I found watching this live pretty entertaining. Maybe time better spend than spending hours a day reading some of the sillier threads here on ATS No one forced me to watch it, so it was not "wasted" time, not more "wasted" than playing a computer game or reading a book for entertainment etc.

reply to post by flexy123


V true...

It's always good to come to ATS. even with the not-so-serious topics, just to get a feel for what others say. After reading these posts, I'm probably moving to a "on-the-fence" postition on this topic

Still, it's a lotta money when the world economy is all t!ts-up.

Its Red Bulls money not the Govs not yours.
They can do what they want with it and if that means spending it to further global knowledge and advertise their brand then i see that as a win win.
Do u realy think $30 million for a population Americas size would do anything usefull for welfare?.....its pocket lint not even pocket change.

en.wikipedia.org...:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2011.png

Where did Red Bull's $30 million go? It just didn't disappear. It paid the people who manufactured the balloon, the people who built the capsule, the people who made the suit, the people who ran the cameras, the people who worked in the hotels where the Red Bull people stayed. I can go on and on. Red Bull's $30 million helped to provide JOBS for people who pay TAXES.

reply to post by JIMC5499


Score 1 for private enterprise.

Like I said before it's marketing 101, .... a publicity stunt

Now go buy a red bull