Felix Baumgartner
April 20, 1969 — Salzburg, Austria
Felix Baumgartner is an Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper who on October 14, 2012 stepped out of a pressurised capsule at an altitude of 128,100 feet above the Earth's surface — the edge of the stratosphere — and fell for four minutes and twenty seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 843.9 miles per hour and becoming the first human being to break the sound barrier in freefall.
From Parachutist to Record-Holder
Born on April 20, 1969 in Salzburg, Austria, Baumgartner became interested in skydiving and BASE jumping (parachuting from Buildings, Antennae, Spans, and Earth) as a young man. He was a decorated military parachutist in the Austrian Armed Forces before pursuing civilian extreme sports. His BASE jumping career was marked by several world records: he was the first person to BASE jump from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (1999), the first to jump from the Millau Viaduct in France (2004), and set a world record for the lowest BASE jump ever (29 metres) from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. He also became the first person to BASE jump across the English Channel using a carbon-fibre wing suit in 2003. Each of these achievements was technically and athletically demanding, but all of them were preparation, in a sense, for what came in 2012.
Red Bull Stratos
The Red Bull Stratos project, years in planning and preparation, aimed to break the record for highest altitude parachute jump set by US Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger in 1960, and to explore the physiological limits of human beings in near-space conditions. On October 14, 2012 — the 65th anniversary of Chuck Yeager's first supersonic flight — Baumgartner ascended in a helium balloon over Roswell, New Mexico, to 128,100 feet, an altitude at which the sky is black and the curvature of the Earth is visible. He was wearing a pressurised suit without which he would have died instantly. He stepped out of the capsule, fell for 4 minutes and 20 seconds, and reached 843.9 mph (Mach 1.25) before decelerating through denser air. He pulled his parachute and landed safely. More than 8 million people watched the jump live on YouTube, the largest live-stream audience in the platform's history at that time.
Did You Know?
During the jump, Baumgartner entered an uncontrolled flat spin at high altitude — a scenario that mission planners had feared could be fatal. In a flat spin at near-supersonic speed, centrifugal force can cause blood to pool in the extremities, leading to loss of consciousness. Baumgartner maintained enough awareness to work his way out of the spin using body position, without pulling his emergency parachute. Ground teams, watching the spin develop, did not know for several seconds whether he had survived. He emerged from it and completed the freefall.
Records and Legacy
The Red Bull Stratos jump set three world records: highest altitude parachute jump, fastest freefall speed (Mach 1.25), and greatest vertical distance in freefall. The project also had scientific value: the data collected on high-altitude pressurised suit performance and human physiological response to near-space conditions was valuable to aerospace engineers and space agencies. Kittinger, who held the previous record and served as capsule communicator for Baumgartner's jump, was present at mission control. Since the jump, Baumgartner has remained active in aviation and extreme sports. He holds a helicopter pilot licence and participates in aerial firefighting. He is one of the most recognisable names in the history of extreme sports and one of the very few people who have stood at the boundary of Earth's atmosphere and stepped off it.