Okay, I understand that in news years this is rather old, but I think it’s important to look back on Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric freefall. For any readers that don’t know, the energy drink company Red Bull sent a stuntman up into space who then jumped down to Earth, breaking the sound barrier as well as a bunch of world records in the process. Following this record-breaking publicity stunt, nicknamed Project Stratos, some of the more cynical among us are wondering, besides how Baumgartner fit his massive balls into that suit, why anyone should really care? I’m going to tell you why anyone should really care.
One reason this milestone is important is because it shows a future for American space exploration. The United States government is too busy limiting marriage rights and blowing people up to send anyone to space. On top of that, we have a crushing financial debt that we’re trying to dig our way out of. A space program seems unnecessary and irresponsible, as much as it pains me to say it. Private corporations like Red Bull, however, have all the money in the world to spend. Say what you will about them, but corporations get things done. If there is money to be made in space exploration, businesses will make it. In Project Stratos, we saw just that. Red Bull put a man in the stratosphere because they had money to make. As spacefaring technology becomes more advanced in the future, no doubt we will be seeing more efforts by private companies to capitalize on it. I will not be surprised if space travel ends up being completely privatized.
There was a time in human history when we accomplished great feats just because someone said so. In ancient Egypt, pharaohs ordered the construction of the Great Pyramids. In the 17th century, Emperor Shah Jahan ordered the building of the Taj Mahal. Last weekend, I constructed Fort Mitch using the furniture in my room. Monarchs and emperors used their wealth and unilateral authority to carry out enormous and expensive projects. Today, however, we have governments that don’t have the funds or intention to do such things. Corporations have the funds and power to do completely unnecessary and awesome things. Perhaps others will follow Red Bull’s example and do so.
We should care about Project Stratos because of what it represents.
When asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, British explorer George Mallory said, “Because it is there.” President John F. Kennedy said in reference to his plans to send a man to the moon, “Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it.” There are times that man feels the need to test the limits of his resolve and conquer nature. Why? Because he can.
In the last couple years, America has bombed the moon, landed a Mars rover and gone all Sonny Corleone on Osama bin Laden. Now an American company has funded a project that broke the sound barrier in freefall. Because it can. We have once again proven to the world that we don’t need a reason to be badass. Every other country in the world is thinking, “Don’t mess with America. They jumped from space. Just because they felt like it.”
It is important to note, however, that Baumgartner, the giant pair of nads that actually performed the jump, is not American, but Austrian. This is testament to a more important point: freefalling from the stratosphere was not a feat performed by America, but rather humanity. Like the Great Pyramids or the Taj Mahal, Project Stratos is a monument to human achievement and dominance. Humanity, middle finger high in the sky, has conquered space yet again.
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