The Riskiest Publicity Stunt in History?

I don't understand all the fuss over the “Space Jump”. It's just a large publicity stunt that could have gone horribly wrong. Can you imagine the public relations nightmare revolving around trying to explain the tragic death of Felix Baumgartner? How can someone put a positive spin on someone hurdling back to the Earth as a fireball. Apparently, it was a risk that Red Bull was willing to take.

Red Bull risk paid off this time, there are many different degrees and possibilities that say the next time won't work out as well. This event allowed us to see that a human can break the sound barrier without becoming a fireball. Call me conservative if you must, but this dangerous stunt has disaster written all over it. Some people are risk takers and others enjoy safely staying on Earth for the entire day and not “space diving”. These thrill seekers are a different type of person that live on the edge and need quick fix of adrenaline to make their life more fulfilling. My main problem with the space jump is that everything needs to be perfect for Baumgartner to attempt it and this process dragged on for a little under a week. It seemed like the longer this stunt dragged on the more the question went from, “is he going to live?” to “is this even going to happen?” The scary part about this jump is that the article states that Baumgartner was having “panic attacks” as they were simulating the jump. If the man that broke the sound barrier was having anxiety issues what will happen to the next person put in this position? This article received a report about Baumgartner's mask fogging up once he was hovering above the Earth. I honestly can't think of anything worse than having to jump out of a space craft while being visually impaired by fog. This is very simple when it comes down to it, the “Space Jump” is one of the riskiest publicity stunts in history.