Supersonic Freefall 23 Miles Above Roswell To Be Streamed

Supersonic Freefall From 23 Miles Above the Earth to Be Broadcast Live Online This October From Roswell, New Mexico

Red Bull Media House delivers sophisticated broadcast production, and partners with YouTube to provide global live stream experience of historic aerospace mission

September 28, 2012 –Red Bull Media House have announced a global, live stream partnership with YouTube. Red Bull Media House will produce a live, global digital broadcast of the historic Red Bull Stratos mission featuring Felix Baumgartner which will be streamed through YouTube’s live player experience. In the Red Bull Stratos mission, skydiver Felix Baumgartner will attempt a record-breaking freefall from 120,000 feet above the earth that, if successful, would see him become the first man to break the speed of sound with his own body.

Building upon the success of the Red Bull Channel on YouTube, which boasts over 500,000 subscribers, the Red Bull Stratos project will capitalize on the performance of and audience built through Red Bull Media House’s exclusive programming as a partner in YouTube’s original programming initiative. The two global media companies will leverage their ability to drive tune-in marketing as well as live stream experiences. Red Bull Media House’s extensive expertise in live broadcast production will deliver an embeddable live stream to any digital platform including mobile on the day of the Red Bull Stratos mission, which is expected to occur during the week of October 8, 2012. The live stream will be broadcast on www.redbullstratos.com, on the Red Bull Channel on YouTube, on www.facebook.com/redbullstratos and on privileged partner sites using the embeddable live player from YouTube.

This mission to the edge of space is an inspirational, scientific endeavor that has been in development for over five years, not only with regards to the science and technology necessary to take Felix safely to 120,000 feet, but also in how to document it. The Red Bull Media House assembled a group of expert consultants to develop complex and sophisticated high altitude and ground-based camera systems that are capable of not only surviving extreme high and low temperatures and remote locales, but that also have the ability to transmit live broadcast signals to Mission Control.

Together with Riedel Communications, FlightLine Films and 3G Communications, the Red Bull Media House has tested and developed a flying production studio capable of beaming back every moment of Felix’s history-making freefall from 23 miles above the earth. In total, there are more than 35 moving and still image cameras used to document the mission including two ground-based optical tracking systems which will allow live stream viewers to track Felix’s entire freefall from the moment he steps off of his space capsule to when he deploys his parachute. Felix will also have three POV cameras on his body that will record his freefall experience moment by moment.

The YouTube live stream experience with digital encoding provided by Origin Digital will enable Red Bull Media House to deliver a four-hour live broadcast to viewers around the world. The Red Bull Stratos mission broadcast will include:

• Narration from broadcasting legend, Robert Hager, who was a news correspondent for NBC News for over thirty years
• A live data feed that will show viewers exactly where Felix is in the sky, his rate of speed during the freefall, and how high above earth he is throughout the entire flight
• The ability to listen to the radio communications between Col. Joe Kittinger and Felix during the entire flight
• Live moving images broadcast from the launch site, the capsule, helicopter with Cineflex and two high altitude tracking systems in infrared and HD
• Live chat on www.redbullstratos.com

Due to weather variables, which require specific conditions to be perfect in order to launch, it is not possible to identify an exact date for the Red Bull Stratos mission and live online broadcast. At this time, the weather window opens on October 8.

The mission promises to deliver valuable scientific data and protocols that could save the lives of high altitude explorers who may need to survive emergency bail-outs from above the Armstrong line (62,000 feet). Col. Joe Kittinger is the only man alive who has been close to where Felix will go. In 1960, he set the current freefall record from 102,800 feet as part of the Project Excelsior mission with the United States Air Force. Col. Kittinger is an advisor on the Red Bull Stratos mission, and will be the only voice in Felix’s ear over radio communications throughout his ascent and freefall.

Red Bull Media House is a global media company that produces and distributes compelling sports, culture and lifestyle programming across multiple platforms. To date, over 300 million views have been generated from Red Bull content, making Red Bull Media House one of the top five content producers on YouTube in Sports globally.

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