Felix Baumgartner and Colonel Joseph Kittinger unveiled the Red Bull Stratos project today.

Red Bull Stratos, a mission to the edge of space, seeks to surpass limits that have existed for 50 years. Felix Baumgartner will undertake a stratospheric balloon flight to 120,000 feet and attempt a record-breaking freefall jump that is expected to reach – for the first time in history – supersonic speeds.

Velocity Sports Equipment, maker of the Infinity rig, created the rig and drogue. VSE owner Kelly Farrington says there are some pretty cool features of this rig. Hopefully we’ll get a bit more out of him, and some pictures, for you soon!

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Ted Mayfield just can’t stay out of the sky. The guy some people claim is your hero and mine, DB Cooper, and the former owner of Pacific Parachute Center, flies without a license.

A 74-year-old Sheridan man with a decades-long history of defying federal aviation rules just can’t seem to stay out of the cockpit.

Teddy Ernest Mayfield was sentenced Tuesday for flying a single-engine plane from Eugene Airport to the Independence airport in June 2008 — 26 years after the Federal Aviation Administration last revoked his pilot’s license.

The Register Guard (Eugene, Oregon)

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Lots of news covering this jump by Omar Al Hegelan and Nasser Al Neyadi, but this one is my favorite: Man Falls from Burj Dubai – Worlds Tallest Building. Like, whoops, I fell!

Enjoy the video—and particularly MSNBC’s spectacular journalistic reporting of the building’s height as 27,017′ (the smarties at MSNBC changed out the video on us and they’re correct now! – it’s 2,717′):

Some more links to fill up what remains of your Friday workday:
BBC
CBC
Daily Mail

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We got an update on G, the swooper who was injured at World Cup in South Africa in November. From Julie, “He is now standing with assistance; as of 01/01, has some need of physio therapy, eating & talking, still wears halo device, hope to transfer to States in Feb.” His family and he still needs some help paying for all the costs of this injury, so the PayPal account is still active and ready for your New Year’s good karma donations Thoughts and prayers are just as helpful (we think, anyway) if you can’t spare a buck.

The PayPal info again is:
LT197044060003600396
Inga Gaizauskiene
AB SEB bankas
Gedimino pr. 12, LT- 01103 Vilnius
Banko Kodas 70440
SWIFT Kodas CBVILT2X
email account info: gaizauskiene.inga@hotmail.com

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Longtime New England jumper and rigger Dave Hersey passed away this morning, January 5. A a long battle with ALS (often called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”) cut his skydiving short in recent years, but not his love and dedication to the sky. If you went to any skydiver weddings in the New England area, you probably witnessed Dave performing the ceremony—probably barefoot and probably with a peaceful, knowing smile under a bushy beard.

Videographer Sean Rogan shot Dave’s final skydive, his 25th skydiving anniversary, in October 2008:

An ash dive with 10 pounds of glitter (at Dave’s request) is being planned. All the best to Dave’s many friends and family.

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National Geographic Adventure magazine is holding open voting for Readers’ Choice Adventurer of the Year (<-click that link to vote!), and Dean Potter is in the running for his fusion of rock climbing/BASE jumping/wingsuit (Tony Suits, to be specific). You are to "cast your vote for the person you think best embodies the spirit of adventure", so get on over and vote—if you can avoid soiling yourself at 0:30 in this video.

Read about him here. And take note – the December/January issue is the last for National Geographic Adventure, so snag your copy now.

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Photo courtesy of Skydive Midwest

Giedrius “G” Kasiulynas was injured during a training jump at the World Cup in South Africa and is currently in critical condition. Although he is on staff at Skydive Midwest in Wisconsin, his family is in Lithuania, where he is originally from. They need to get to South Africa to make medical decisions about G’s life, so an account has been set up to help them make the trip.

Julie from Skydive Midwest sent us this information this morning:

The info for his sister; Inga’s PayPal account, for donations: gaizauskiene.inga@gmail.com

LT197044060003600396

Her other info:

Inga Gaizauskiene
AB SEB bankas
Gedimino pr. 12, LT-01103 Vilnius
SWIFT Kodos CBVILZX

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