The Quest for the World Record of Free Fall
This study is based on the documentary film Space dive, which is also available with the name of Mission to Edge of Space. This documentary initially illustrated the journey of the Austrian person named Felix Baumgartner, who tried to hold the world record of free fall. He tried to jump even faster in comparison to speed of sound (News 2022). Felix Baumgartner, in a pressure suit, fell freely and flew in a helium balloon to the stratosphere of New Mexico, USA, about 39 km (24 miles) before parachuting to Earth. After analyzing the content of the video “Mission to edge of space”, it can be found that there is a certain link with sports psychology such as presence of stress, anxiety, arousal and motivation in both of the cases. Felix Baumgartner, in a pressure suit, fell freely and flew in a helium balloon to the stratosphere of New Mexico, USA, about 39 km (24 miles) before parachuting to Earth (thecasecentre.org 2021
Space Dive is one type of documentary that demonstrate the quest of one man, to freefall from the edge of space back to earth, for becoming the first human being to fall faster in comparison of the speed of sound (Red Bull 2021). In the mission to edge of space it can be seen that not only Felix but the entire marketing team of Red Bull worked very hard for years and had enlisted dozens of engineers, technicians and physiologists. The actual event took place on 14th October, 2012 where an Austrian Felix Baumgartner made the world record and astonished millions of people across the world to watch him live with a jump with parachute from the edge of the space. That incredible moment is the result of years of hard effort by a top-notch team dedicated to finding new ways to improve aerospace safety, and the legacy of the mission remains. Felix Baumgartner, in a pressure suit, fell freely and flew in a helium balloon to the stratosphere of New Mexico, USA, about 39 km (24 miles) before parachuting to Earth (News 2022). The entire jump from leaving the capsule to landing took about 10 minutes. Free fall should last 5 to 6 minutes at first, but Baumgartner released a parachute after 4 minutes and 19 seconds (Red Bull 2021). Felix Baumgartner conducted one of two different test launches from 71,581 feet or 21,818 meters on 15th March, 2012. He spent roughly 3 minutes and 43 seconds in free fall during the leap, achieving speeds of almost 580 km/h (360 mph) before releasing the parachute. Felix Baumgartner was the 3rd person to successfully parachute from a height of over 21.7 kilometers, and the jump took roughly 8 minutes and 8 seconds in total. Felix Baumgartner performed the 2nd of projected test jumps from 96,640 feet or 29,460 meters on 25th July, 2012 (News 2022). Felix Baumgartner climbed to the goal height in roughly 90 minutes, and his free fall was calculated to be 3 minutes and 48 seconds before the parachute was opened. Felix Baumgartner also established a new world record for the quickest free fall speed of 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph), earning him the very first person to exceed the sound barrier other than in a vehicle (McCarthy 2017). Felix Baumgartner lasted 4 minutes and 19 seconds in free fall, falling 17 seconds less of mentor Joseph Kitzinger’s 1960 jump.
Marketing and Scientific Efforts by Red Bull Stratos Team
“The National Air and Space Museum” welcomes the permanent collection of Red Bull Stratos. From April 2nd to May 26th, 2014, the museum is exhibiting a temporary exhibition, “Red Bull Stratos: Mission to the Edge of Space” (redbull 2021). The record includes a maximum descent rate without drogue (a small parachute for stabilization). Record the height of the exit. Maximum vertical descent without a tractor. Felix Baumgartner was the very 1st skydiver to be faster than the sound’s speed, but the entire project was at risk because he had to wear a pressure suit during a 24-mile (39 km) climb (McCarthy 2017). One of the biggest concerns of the team was that Felix Baumgartner’s suit failed beyond the Armstrong limit. As a result, the atmospheric pressure becomes very low (0.0618 atm), and water boils at room temperature of the human body. Furthermore, another major challenge that Felix Baumgartner experienced is the Claustrophobia, which is an anxiety disorder which he had experienced after wearing the pressurized suit for sometimes, which was required for his jumping. For overcoming the condition, he took assistance from a sports psychologist as well as other specialists.
The first component of sports psychology is anxiety which was evident in this documentary. Anxiety is one type of negative emotional state, which is severe type of stress, feelings of nervousness, worry, as well as apprehension. The reason of anxiety is largely associated with the factors those are related to stress. From aspects of sports psychology, there are 2 types of anxiety can be found. The first one is the trait anxiety which is the core of the personality, and a frequent behaviour irrespective of situation (Horikawa & Yagi 2012). Another one is the state anxiety which is not fixed and changes based on the situation. This is a state of mood which is not permanent and might depend on the amount of worry or because of the perception (Horikawa & Yagi 2012). In ‘Space Dive’, Felix Baumgartner experienced anxiety and stress, because he was worried about the fall, though the anxiety or stress was not permanent. The severity of anxiety varies from person to person. Some, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, can be traced back to a specific event. Anxiety can be linked to heredity, neurological or brain chemistry changes, or stressful life events. Physical and emotional stress can result in anxiety, which can progress to illnesses.
Another major type of anxiety that was seen in this case was claustrophobia. The study published by reported Vadakkan & Siddiqui (2019) that Claustrophobia is one type of anxiety disorder, which results in an intense fear of spaces which are enclosed. In case a person gets very anxious or nervous when they are in a tight space like crowded room or lift or tight suit like astronaut suit that Felix wore, then they might get the Claustrophobia which was mentioned in 33.50 minute of the film. Some individuals might have symptoms of claustrophobia when they are in all sorts of closed-up areas (nhs.uk 2021). Various reports stated that for some individual this psychological disorder might disappear by its own and other individuals might need psychological therapy to cope with their symptoms and manage the problem (Vadakkan & Siddiqui 2019) (Cleveland clinic 2021). In the movie ‘Mission to edge of spaces’ from 12 mint to 18 mint it can be seen that Felix Baumgartner took the assistance of the exposure therapy and illustrated that it was very helpful. Exposure therapy is a frequent treatment for anxiety as well as phobias. In this psychotherapy, participants will be placed in a non-dangerous setting that will cause the sufferers’ claustrophobia to be triggered and resolved (Telch & Lancaster 2012). The theory is that the more they are exposed to what terrifies them, the less fearful they will become of it. In short, claustrophobia can be successfully treated and overcome by gradually exposing oneself to the fear-inducing circumstance. Desensitization or self-exposure treatment are terms used to describe this process (Clinic 2022).
Felix Baumgartner’s Jump and Records
The following component of the sports psychology is stress which was also evident in Felix’s case as he was very stressed about the fall and every other team member of that mission to edge of space were stressed. According to the aspects of sports psychology stress can be said to be as the stimulus causing a positive response or negative response to a particular situation. Both psychological and physiological symptoms are produced by excessive stress (Dhabhar 2018). It was found that there are 2 kinds of stress. The first is Eustress, that is a great benefit since it makes someone feel accomplished and arousal. It can help people enhance your focus, attention, and skill level. In order to be successful, some sportsmen consciously seek out and require difficult conditions. The second type of stress is distress, which is a negative type of stress that causes anxiety and apprehension in exceptional conditions. It has a negative effect on individuals’ performance (Dhabhar 2018). In this documentary Felix showed distress and fear before the event which was also a negative type of stress. Individual skills, intensity of competition, and psychological stress can all have a significant impact on performance. If the requirement is viewed as a temptation (Eustress) or a hazard (Distress), the effect will be enhancement in motivation and performance, not like the increment in concern as well as a decrease in performance.
The following component of sports psychology which can be connected with Felix’s case is the Arousal. Arousal is one type of psychological state of awareness along with anticipation that helps the body for preparing the person to take the action. Individuals have varying levels of arousal that can be positive or negative, or can be neutral. A variety of factors contribute to differences in arousal levels. Hormones, presumably, as well as differences in what is popularly recognized as the degree of motivation, are among them. Variations in the degree of arousal in various persons appear to have a hereditary, or environmental. People appear to differ in their degree of arousal and the quickness with which they return to their previous level of functioning when exposed to similar stimuli. The content of the documentary was relevant with the sports psychology as, from various research it can know that hormonal fluctuations such as testosterone fluctuation might be associated with the stress, anxiety and arousal. According to Messina et al. (2016) event like skydiving or free fall is proven to cause a physiological stress reaction, which includes stimulation of both the sympathetic autonomic nervous system as well as the HPA axis, as seen by an increase in heart and breathing rates (Messina et al. 2016).
The last component which is associated with the space dive and sports psychology was the motivation to arousal. Everyone has a specific amount of arousal that suits them, according to motivated awakening theory (Vansteenkiste, Ryan & Soenens 2020). When individual awareness levels drop below these customized ideal levels, human bodies seek out a stimulus to raise them. Furthermore, according to several ideas, motivation may be rooted in a basic drive to reduce physical suffering while increasing happiness. Due to less obvious reasons (Higgins 2012). In the space of dive, Felix experienced both intrinsic and extrinsic type of motivation. Intrinsic motivation is self-motivated that is fueled by interest and satisfaction in the activity at hand rather than being influenced by external factors. External motivation is derived from sources other than the individual. In general term, competition is extrinsic in that it drives performers to succeed and move ahead from others rather than appreciate the intrinsic benefits of their activities (Legault 2020).
Conclusion
Space Dive is one type of documentary that demonstrate the quest of one man, to freefall from the edge of space back to earth, for becoming the first human being to fall faster in comparison of the speed of sound. Austrian Felix Baumgartner made the world record and astonished millions of people by world-record height of 38,969.3 meters (127,852 feet) as well as descending covering a record distance of 36,402.6 meters (119,431 feet). However, while doing it stress, anxiety (including claustrophobia), arousal was also there and thus sports psychology came into action. In ‘Space Dive’, Felix Baumgartner experienced state anxiety as, he was worried about the fall and it was not permanent. another major concern was Claustrophobia which he had experienced after wearing the pressurized suit. Moreover, Felix showed distress and fear before the event which was also a negative type of stress. Changes in testosterone level before the event, which alter the perception and prepare a person for the thrilling event was also evident in this case. Felix Baumgartner took the assistance of the exposure therapy which was very helpful to overcome the anxiety, claustrophobia and stress. Lastly from motivational aspect it can be said that in the space of dive it can be seen that Felix experienced both intrinsic and extrinsic type of motivation.
References
Clinic, C 2022, ‘What Is It, Symptoms, Causes & Treatment’.
Dhabhar, FS 2018, ‘The short-term stress response–Mother nature’s mechanism for enhancing protection and performance under conditions of threat, challenge, and opportunity’, Frontiers in neuroendocrinology, vol. 49, pp. 175-192.
Higgins, ET 2012, Beyond pleasure and pain: How motivation works, OUP USA.
Horikawa, M & Yagi, A 2012, ‘The relationships among trait anxiety, state anxiety and the goal performance of penalty shoot-out by university soccer players’, PloS one, vol. 7, no. 4, p. e35727.
Legault, L 2020, ‘Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation’, Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences, pp. 2416-2419.
McCarthy, AC 2017, ‘Reading the Red Bull Sublime’, PMLA, vol. 132, no. 3, pp. 543-557.
Messina, G, Chieffi, S, Viggiano, A, Tafuri, D, Cibelli, G, Valenzano, A, Triggiani, AI, Messina, A, De Luca, V & Monda, M 2016, ‘Parachute jumping induces more sympathetic activation than cortisol secretion in first-time parachutists’, Asian journal of sports medicine, vol. 7, no. 1.
News, B 2022, ‘Skydiver Felix Baumgartner breaks sound barrier’.
redbull 2021, mission-to-the-edge-of-space, <https://www.redbull.com/in-en/films/mission-to-the-edge-of-space>.
Telch, MJ & Lancaster, CL 2012, ‘Is there room for safety behaviors in exposure therapy for anxiety disorders?’, in Exposure therapy, Springer, pp. 313-334.
Vadakkan, C & Siddiqui, W 2019, ‘Claustrophobia’.
Vansteenkiste, M, Ryan, RM & Soenens, B 2020, Basic psychological need theory: Advancements, critical themes, and future directions, 1, Springer, 1573-6644.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
