Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking jump from 39km inside the stratosphere, broke the sound barrier as he tumbled out of the sky before landing safely in New Mexico.
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner became the first man to break the sound barrier in a record-shattering, death-defying freefall jump on Sunday from the edge of space.
The 43-year-old leapt from a capsule more than 39 kilometres above the Earth, reaching a top speed of 1342km/h (833.9 miles/h), or 1.24 times the speed of sound, according to organisers.
The skydiver's blood could have boiled if there were the slightest tear or crack in his pressurised spacesuit-like outfit, due to instant depressurisation at the extreme altitude.
The veteran skydiver was in freefall for four minutes and 20 seconds before opening his red and white parachute and floating down to the desert, said Red Bull Stratos mission record keeper Brian Utley.
Mission control erupted in cheers as Baumgartner sprung from the capsule hoisted aloft by a giant helium-filled balloon to an altitude of 39,044 metres (128,097 feet), even higher than expected.
"It was way harder than I expected. I think 20 tonnes have fallen from my shoulders. I prepared for this for seven years," he told German-language ServusTV in Austria in his first interview after the leap.
Referring to a helmet problem that nearly forced him to abort at the last minute, Baumgartner said: "Even on a day like this when you start so well, then there's a little glitch.
"And you think you'll have to abort – what if you've prepared everything and it fails on a visor problem. But I finally decided to jump. And it was the right decision."
Shortly before jumping, in footage beamed live around the world – on a crackly radio link recalling Neil Armstrong's first words on the Moon – he had said: "Sometimes you have [to go] up really high to [understand] how small you are."
The Austrian took more than two hours to get up to the jump altitude. Baumgartner had already broken one record before he even leapt: the previous highest altitude for a manned balloon flight was 113,740 feet, set in 1961.
He had been due to jump from 120,000 feet, but the balloon went higher than expected.
The biggest risk Baumgartner faced was spinning out of control, which could have exerted excessive G-force and made him lose consciousness. A controlled dive from the capsule was essential, putting him in a head-down position to increase speed.
Millions of transfixed viewers around the world looked on as the Austrian started tumbling chaotically for what seemed like an eternity before finally achieving the right position.
Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking jump from 39km inside the stratosphere, broke the sound barrier as he tumbled out of the sky before landing safely in New Mexico.
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner became the first man to break the sound barrier in a record-shattering, death-defying freefall jump on Sunday from the edge of space.
The 43-year-old leapt from a capsule more than 39 kilometres above the Earth, reaching a top speed of 1342km/h (833.9 miles/h), or 1.24 times the speed of sound, according to organisers.
The skydiver's blood could have boiled if there were the slightest tear or crack in his pressurised spacesuit-like outfit, due to instant depressurisation at the extreme altitude.
The veteran skydiver was in freefall for four minutes and 20 seconds before opening his red and white parachute and floating down to the desert, said Red Bull Stratos mission record keeper Brian Utley.
Mission control erupted in cheers as Baumgartner sprung from the capsule hoisted aloft by a giant helium-filled balloon to an altitude of 39,044 metres (128,097 feet), even higher than expected.
"It was way harder than I expected. I think 20 tonnes have fallen from my shoulders. I prepared for this for seven years," he told German-language ServusTV in Austria in his first interview after the leap.
Referring to a helmet problem that nearly forced him to abort at the last minute, Baumgartner said: "Even on a day like this when you start so well, then there's a little glitch.
"And you think you'll have to abort – what if you've prepared everything and it fails on a visor problem. But I finally decided to jump. And it was the right decision."
Shortly before jumping, in footage beamed live around the world – on a crackly radio link recalling Neil Armstrong's first words on the Moon – he had said: "Sometimes you have [to go] up really high to [understand] how small you are."
The Austrian took more than two hours to get up to the jump altitude. Baumgartner had already broken one record before he even leapt: the previous highest altitude for a manned balloon flight was 113,740 feet, set in 1961.
He had been due to jump from 120,000 feet, but the balloon went higher than expected.
The biggest risk Baumgartner faced was spinning out of control, which could have exerted excessive G-force and made him lose consciousness. A controlled dive from the capsule was essential, putting him in a head-down position to increase speed.
Millions of transfixed viewers around the world looked on as the Austrian started tumbling chaotically for what seemed like an eternity before finally achieving the right position.
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