Weekend Report: HODINKEE Goes To Roswell For Felix Baumgartners Record-Breaking Jump

October 16, 2012

A little over a week ago, I was having dinner with a few peoplefrom the Zenith watch company at one of Roswell, New Mexicos half-empty,nondescript restaurants. Near the end of our meal, a familiar person approachedour table. Felix Baumgartner was making the rounds, shaking hands withunsuspecting guests, sponsors, and media who were there eating. A compact,muscular 43-year old, he looked far too relaxed for a man planning to skydivefrom 23 miles high. One expects a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie to have ahyperactive personality, but Baumgartner exudes quiet confidence and has a readysmile. As I shook his hand, I told him, good luck. He turned back and said,Not good luck. Good skills. Before this week, Roswellwas best known as the site of an alleged UFO landing in 1947, an event thatthe city still leverages to maximum effect, with alien-themed restaurants,inflatable aliens bobbing outside car dealerships, and a rather tired-lookingdowntown UFO museum. The most common explanation (or cover-up,depending on your viewpoint) given by the US military for the UFO sightingwas that it was an experimental high-altitude balloon launched by theAir Force. So its perhaps fitting that Felix Baumgartner ascended to his jumpaltitude inside a pressurized capsule suspended under a massive helium balloon,adding a new chapter toRoswellshistory with outer space.? Weather balloons tell the story. Zenith became involved with the Red Bull Stratos project shortly after the arrival of current CEO, Jean-Frdric Dufour. Dufour was in New Mexicofor the launch and he explained how the brand connected with FelixBaumgartner:When I joined the company in June, 2009, I was looking forsomething new and connected to the world of pioneering spirit. Nowadays youhave the world of cars, of climbing, of sailing, and most things have alreadybeen done on Earth. So finding new challenges was quite difficult. A friend ofmine got me connected with Felix, I met him for the first time in late 2009, and he told about the project. I got excited about it and decided it was theright fit for Zenith.Having signed on as sponsor and official timekeeper for themission, Zenith needed a watch for the special event. The result is the Stratos FlybackStriking 10th, the brands first Striking 10th with theflyback complication. Modeled after the beloved Rainbow Flyback of the late90s, the Stratos was developed specifically for Baumgartners jump, with lubricatingoils chosen for their ability to withstand the extremely low temperatures thewatch would be subjected to in the thin air above the Earth. I got to handlethis capable watch, and HODINKEE featured the hands-on review earlier this week. The Zenith Stratos Flyback Striking 10th The first planned launch day was set for Tuesday, October 9th, and it was set to start early. 3am early. Shuttle buses collected media, staff, and guestsfrom Roswells overflowing hotels andtransported us to the secure launch site, which was located in a corner of themassive Roswellairport, a former Strategic Air Command airfield with one of the longestrunways in the world. Nowadays, the airport doesnt get a lot of traffic, otherthan the decommissioned 747s that are parked there, destined for salvaging.This, along with its favorable ballooning weather, made Rosewell an ideal choice forBaumgartners jump. Arriving in the media center in the pre-dawn desert chill,we huddled and waited for reports from Mission Control. When we finally gotword, it was not good. High wind speeds 700 feet up meant that inflating theballoon would be dangerous, so a weather delay was in effect. We waited asthe launch window grew narrower and narrower.At 9:30, we got word from Mission Control that they werelaying out the balloon for inflation. A cheer went up from theover-caffeinated, sleep-deprived crowd and the anticipation grew as we watchedon closed-circuit monitors as the crew carefully laid the balloon out on theflight line, only 500 yards from the Media Center. The capsule wasalready in place, hanging beneath a crane and tethered to the balloon.Baumgartner himself rested inside his Airstream trailer nearby, pre-breathingfrom the special high-oxygen mix he would be breathing as he ascended. Zenith CEO, Jean-Frdric Dufour By 11:00am, Baumgartner was moved from his trailer intothe capsule, where he would remain in a pressurized environment for theduration of the flight. Emerging from the trailer in his bulky suit, he salutedthe cameras before climbing into the capsule. It was a thrilling moment forspace geeks like me, who felt that we missed out on the heyday of the spacerace. Inside the media center, the large video screens flickered to life, andthe live video feed from inside the capsule showed Felix being secured inhis seat and all connections checked and double-checked before the hatch wasshut. Baumgartner could be seen, his face tense behind his helmet, sitting inhis seat. But something was wrong. Mission Control was talking to him but hecouldnt hear them. After several agonizing minutes, the problem was solved Cthe switch for the capsules primary radio feed had been accidentally turnedoff. By this time, the flight was delayed by fifteen minutes, enough time forthe winds 700 feet up to begin to swirl.Out on the flight line, shimmering in the rising heat of theday, the crew quickly filled the balloon with helium from a large tanker truck.Soon the 55-story balloon, which is less than half as thick as a plasticsandwich bag, began to take shape, rising above the capsule. Cameras from worldmedia rolled as reporters talked in a dozen languages and the live feedvoiceover gave the play-by-play from Mission Control. By the time the balloonreached several hundred feet, the rising winds caused it to billow andtwist, pulling at the capsule and threatening to tear. The dreaded abort callwas quickly made from Mission Control and the crew pulled open the vent at thetop of the balloon causing it to melt to the ground. The deflation waspalpable in the gathered crowd, the crew, and the look on Baumgartners face.He would live to fly another day. After another day of weather watching, the Red Bull Stratosteams meteorologist pronounced the rest of the week unsuitable for launch and those media who couldnt stay another week scrambled to find flights home.Wednesday afternoon found me sitting in the tiny Roswell airport with Jean-Frderic Dufour,both of us waiting for our respective flights home. He had spent the afternoon with Baumgartner and the Red Bull team, and Dufour said Felix seemed relaxed and stillconfident, unshaken by the near-miss and frustrating delays. After the five yearsof planning, countless delays, a lawsuit, and two test jumps from as high as96,000 feet, I didnt doubt it. We would be watching the jump, whenever itoccurred, on the live Internet feed, with millions of others around the world.As my plane took off and ascended above the clouds, I looked out the window andthought about how Baumgartner would be jumping from four times this altitude, and thenturned back to my magazine.POSTSCRIPTThese days, its easy to be cynical about corporate brandingand sponsored events, and watch companies are as guilty as anyone of participating. Watchbrand names are plastered all over everything from tennis tournaments toclassic boat regattas. But in a world of slashed budgets, unmanned drones, andMars rovers, privately-funded explorers are the new breed of heroes who will,as Tom Wolfe put it, hang their hide out over the edge. Watching the skydiveon the live feed on Sunday, all the logos and hype dropped away as quickly asBaumgartner himself, leaving a man, his parachute, and his guts. As I watchedFearless Felix step off the edge into the abyss, I couldnt help but rememberhis words to me. Not good luck. Good skills.