A high-altitude balloon made of polyethylene fabric, the thickness of a dry-cleaning bag and filled with helium, will lift a capsule containing Baumgartner to near the top of the stratosphere. With a volume of 29 million cubic feet, it will span 600 feet across at altitude and stretch 600 feet tall. According to Kittinger, “We used a balloon 50 years ago because it was the most practical way to get up there, and it still is.” The capsule developed for the Red Bull Stratos Mission is a 6-foot-diameter fiberglass pressure sphere with a half-inch-thick acrylic door and two side windows. "We started building a gondola and ended up building a spacecraft," says Art Thompson, the mission’s technical project director. After Baumgartner has landed, the capsule will be separated from the balloon remotely. The balloon and cable will fall back to Earth in a clump, and the capsule’s descent will be slowed by a main parachute and stabilized by a drogue. The capsule has a corrugated crunch pad on the base so that it lands with minimal damage. 

Hmmm ... Red Bull ...