Zenith Ambassador Felix Baumgartner will try to do something that no one has ever tried before - to break the sound barrier with his own body.
To do so, Zenith ambassador will leap out of a capsule suspended from a balloon in the stratosphere at an height of over 120,000 feet / 36.5 kilometres. If he manages to do so, he'll set the new records in no less than four categories:
1- the highest manned balloon flight
2- the highest freefall
3- the longest freefall time
4- and, for the first time in history, breaking the sound barrier with the human body.
During this jump, his body will accelerate from a standstill to 700 miles/hour / 1,125 kilometres/hour or even more, before parachuting to the ground!
Zenith Manufacture is one of the main sponsors of the mission and, on this occasion, Felix Baumgartner will be wearing the new El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th chronograph watch. The whole mission is named The Red Bull Stratos and it is organized to provide precious medical and scientific information for future pioneers and their quests to transcend the human limits.
According to the press release from the brand, a team of experts in aerospace medicine, engineering, pressure suit development, capsule creation and balloon production is engaged on the project. However, this is an extremely dangerous mission that involves many risks. For example, Baumgartner will be unable to perform an emergency exit during the first 1,000 feet / 305 metres of ascent. Another great risk lays at around 63,000 feet / 19,200 metres. This altitude, known as the Armstrong line, is a point at which the air pressure becomes so low. In other words, without the pressurization of a capsule or spacesuit body fluids could boil and finally vaporize at normal body temperature...
Baumgartner himself has spent a couple years examining the risks involved in this mission and preparing for it both mentally and physically. During the test jump from 71,615 feet / 21,828 metres, he managed to effectively control his stability. Speaking about the upcoming challenge he says: “Breaking the speed of sound in freefall is a pioneering effort and being a pioneer requires risk. I don’t have to put myself in danger to be happy. But I do need to have a challenge. This is the ultimate skydive.”
We wish him all the best, and we're hoping that the mission in the stratosphere, as one of the most extreme conditions, will prove the reliability of Zenith watches and make the El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th chronograph first watch to break the sound barrier in a near space environment.
Author: Marina Milojevic
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