Hasta La Gadget!

Red Bull makes people do weird things, and while I’ve admittedly performed some questionable activities while under the influence of various energy drinks, the idea of a space dive never occurred to me–perhaps it’s just that I’m not a person of vision. It’s probably better that way. These things are best left up to the professionals, right?

Red Bull, the non-stop marketing machine that it is, announced plans for the aforementioned “space dive,” in which one brave soul would jump from a balloon 120,000 feet up. The record-setting dive would require a custom space suit, since the parachutist, Felix Baumgartner, would be going so damned fast–breaking the sound barrier in the process.

The stunt is now dead in the water, however, in the wake of a lawsuit filed in a California court claiming that Red Bull stole the idea. Red Bull denies the allegations, but the dive is on hiatus until the suit is resolved.