Cocktail Astronomy | Red Bull Gives Humanity Wings

Here at Future-ish, we love astronomy and we love cocktails. So to prep our fans (and ourselves) for those stellar weekend cocktail conversations, we are pleased to offer our Cocktail Astronomy post each Friday.

For many hipsters, Red Bull and cocktails go hand and hand. There's nothing like an energy drink cocktail to keep the party going for the night owl crowd. So with a slogan like "Red Bull Gives You Wings" and a fetish for action/adventure sports, it should come as no surprise that Red Bull is the title sponsor behind one of the most exciting developments in human 'edge of space' travel. The goal of the mission, Red Bull Stratos, is to learn more about the human response to high altitude conditions in order to make such travel safer for both pilots and future space tourists as we begin to spend more time at such altitudes.

The mission is full of valuable science and technology learning opportunities but one of the primary elements is the development and use of a cutting edge space suit that both protects individual and provides structural and functional value. Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner is the man making the freefall jump from the edge of space at supersonic speed and judging from his statements in interviews and on mission blog posts, he's loving every foot of his long descents during test phases. We also love the fact that Stratos is not only pushing the boundaries of human space travel, it is pushing the boundaries - literally - of advertising. Product placement just got cosmic!