Isn't it funny how, when looking back on the past, we tend to see it with a old-film, sepia-tone, Polaroid-style hue? It seems so other-worldly when something doesn't happen in your lifetime and events of the past tend to feel like they were always supposed to happen the way they did.
In our own lives, everything seems normal, nothing seems groundbreaking, people have to tall us when history is being made.
Take, for example, this weekend which was normal for me in most ways: go to work, catch up on college homework, hang out with friends, etc. I was in fact hanging out on Facebook when I realized a man, Felix Baumgartner, had just jumped out of a specially designed craft/balloon from the top of the Earth. History had just been made and I missed it because I was busy socially networking.
As it turns out, a few really great things were accomplished that day.
First, it was the highest skydive in history. At 128,000 feet, Baumgartner was basically jumping from outer space.
Second, he was the first person to break the sound barrier without aid. This comes on the anniversary of the first person to break the sound barrier 65 years ago.
Third, Baumgartner now has the fastest free-fall with a top speed of 834 mph.
With all these record breaking achievements comes some much needed data for NASA including the use of his jumpsuit which could prove useful for future NASA missions.
It was, in all, an incredibly historic event, whether or not I was aware of it while it happened.
This story may soon be yesterdays news, but yesterdays news is always tomorrow's history, and looking forward I realize my grandkids may be asking me where I was when Felix Baumgartner jumped off the top of the world.
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