Count down to Launch

Good morning readers.

Over the past year we have introduced you to a small team of individuals from Red Bull's Stratos who have been pushing the boundaries of what is physically and mentally possible.

They plan to let Felix Baumgartner 502, the world's most well known and most extreme base jumper, freefall from the edge of space at 120,000 ft, braking the speed of sound on his way down.

Well ladies and gentlemen the time has come. In 24 hours time, the window will open. Felix will enter his pod and Red Bull Stratos will be go for launch.

With state of the art cameras and umpteen live broadcasts, Felix's jump will be watched from around the globe.

If you don't want to miss a moment, join the millions of others by clicking on the links below.

Watch Live: http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/

Watch Live: http://www.redbull.tv/Redbulltv

Follow Felix: http://www.facebook.com/FelixBaumgartner

Join in with Redbull Stratos: http://www.facebook.com/events/492225154128689/

The count down is on. The team in Rowsell gather to wish Felix luck.

Felix and his mum arrive in Roswell

The Red Bull Stratos Team Leaders Line up in front of the pod
before it is transferred to Roswell.

It's not even jump time but yet Felix has to spend the remaining days
before the jump Preparing alone in a pressurised capsule.

Rehearsals are a big part of the build up to the jump.
Anything to put to one side Murphy law.

Using a state-of-the-art telescopic camera to
capture every waking moment of the event.

Sovibrant / Technology

How times have changed...

Social media has a huge effect on life today. Whether it's Facebook telling you what our glorious Olympic athletes are up to with their month off or celebrities modestly posting about themselves on Twitter, whether we like it or not social technology is having a bigger impact on people's lives than ever before and bringing people from all over the planet closer together.

There is one particularly exciting adventure that social networking has had an enormous role in connecting us to.  In the wake of Olympic fever it has, in my opinion, been greatly underestimated.

The story begins way back on July 20th 1969 as families around the globe sat in their living rooms, gathered round their tiny black and white TV's waiting for the moment when Apollo 11 carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins would land on the moon. This event, at the time, was the most highly televised moment in history.

On Earth: The moment Apollo 11 landed

On The Moon: The moment Apollo 11 landed 

Nowadays sitting in the living room with your family watching in awe as the biggest moments in history unfold is a thing of the past. The accessibility offered to the world by social media and social technology has made it easy to see the greatest moments of our time happen from a wide range of devices, at any time of day, on the move and in an enormous range of geographic locations.Below are a few examples of how recently some of the greatest pioneering feats of human endeavour have been made readily available to a global audience.

Last week Felix Baumgartner base-jumped from the edge of space back down to earth and you could watch it live on Facebook.

Three weeks ago our world finally landed a fully functioning robot on another world, this robot "Curiosity" tweets photos ever day from 34.8 million miles away back to the NASA app on your phone.

And using the NASA app on my own phone, I can live stream the many cameras on board the International Space Station which is currently in orbit around our planet.

Its amazing how technology and social networking has opened the doors for us to gain access to more information than we could ever have imagined. And all at the click of a button or a swipe of the finger. If you consider the what the reaction of that family huddled around a low resolution, grainy, black and white television back in 1969, may have been to you walking in with a retina display iPad showing a full HD, astronauts-eye-view of the moon landing. Then, for kicks, pulling out a mobile phone that is streaming pictures from 34.8 million miles away. Surprise is probably not the word...

How times have changed.

The rover has landed

Good afternoon bloggers. 

If you are British this has to be one of the most memorable weekends ever. However on the other side of the pond. a small group of people have been busy making history as well.

In the early hours of this morning. "CURIOSITY", NASA's mars rover touched down on the red planet; Mars. This monumental event may well be over-shadowed by the current excitement of London 2012 Olympics but the significance of this event cannot be underestimated and it is very much one of mans greatest achievements to date.

In the past NASA has launched and landed a number of missions to the red planet. While some of them landed safely sending back amazing images of the surface of mars, Most broke up on impact.

However. at 6:00am EST, after a 9 month journey, travelling 225 million km at a speed of 13,000mph, "CURIOSITY" successfully and safely landed, in fully working order. These are the first pictures from the red planet.

After a few hours of start-up tests Curiosity has now started its 2 year road trip around the surface of Mars carrying out experiments and searching for life. This is just the first stage in President Obama's long term aim to take humans to Mars by 2030.

Another giant leap for mankind and proof of the growing importance of continuing to explore our galaxy and beyond.