Felix Baumgartner successfully jumped from the edge of space to break the sound barrier and the record for highest freefall in history – Photo: Red Bull
Daredevil Felix Baumgartner fell a record 24 miles from space and reached speeds of over 700 miles per hour to successfully break the sound barrier.
The Austrian born Baumgartner is the only man to have ever completed a jump from that high of an altitude, the highest ever for a balloon jump, and the first to break the sound barrier during a freefall.
Early on Sunday morning, Felix Baumgartner went through the final preparations for his attempt to jump 128,000 feet from space back down to Earth. Sponsored by Red Bull Stratos, Baumgartner, a professional daredevil, was expected to break the sound barrier as he fell back to earth due to the thin air in space.
With a full team of scientists and doctors on hand to help monitor his descent, altitude, and overall safety, Baumgartner went through a lengthy checklist before he was given the go-ahead to jump from his capsule.
Upon disengagement, Baumgartner was allotted 10 minutes of oxygen to make his descent. During his freefall, Felix was in the air for approximately 4 minutes and 24 seconds
The project had been seven years in the making, as Felix Baumgartner and his team worked tirelessly to ensure that all safety and precautionary measures were met. On Felix’s team was Joe Kittinger, the man who first attempted to break the sound barrier when he jumped from 19.5 miles up in 1960, and reached a top speed of 614 mph.