0008 of an inch thick, one-tenth as thick as a sandwich bag, and it will change shape and size as it rises.Īfter Tuesday's launch was scrubbed, Baumgartner tweeted, "We've made it so far, there's no way turning back." The balloon being used is light and translucent. And you cannot think about anything else. "You know you're in a really hostile environment. "You have to remember all the procedures," he said in an interview during testing for the jump. He has been preparing for his latest feat for five years - both physically and mentally. But as he was waiting in his capsule for the giant helium balloon to finish inflating, a gust of wind twisted the balloon like a spinnaker, and ruined it.īaumgartner is an Austrian helicopter pilot and former soldier who has parachuted from such landmarks as the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. He almost made an attempt Tuesday from his launch site in Roswell, New Mexico. ET, with Baumgartner in a capsule hanging beneath it. While reaching such speeds can cause stress on an aircraft, planners for this jump believe there will be little effect on Baumgartner because he will be at an altitude at which there is so little air that shock waves are barely transmitted.Īfter a weather delay of several hours on Sunday morning, the balloon rose from its launch site at 11:30 a.m. If he loses consciousness during the five-minute plunge, he will survive only if his parachute deploys automatically.Īnother unknown: the effects on the body of breaking the sound barrier. He and his team have practiced how he can avoid getting trapped in a dangerous "horizontal spin." His life will also depend on the integrity of his pressure suit, since temperatures could hit 70 degrees below zero Fahrenheit or lower, and the atmosphere will be so thin that his blood would vaporize if he were unprotected. The plan: to fall most of the way in less than five minutes, then deploy a parachute for the final 5,000 feet to earth. Then he opened the hatch, climbed out, jumped off the step with a bunny hop, and formed a crouched "delta" position to maximize his acceleration. The Austrian daredevil, dubbed "Fearless Felix," was prepared, having "done the hard work," his coach Andy Walshe told reporters last week.īaumgartner ascended steadily in a capsule hanging from a helium balloon. With nothing but a space suit, helmet and parachute, Baumgartner hoped to be the first person to break the sound barrier without the protection of a vehicle.Įven before jumping, he set a record for floating higher in a balloon - about 24 miles - than anyone else before.Īt that height, more than three times the cruising altitude of an average airliner, the thin air provides so little resistance that after just 40 seconds, he was expected to be free-falling faster than 690 miles per hour. "The whole world is watching now," Baumgartner said, before giving a salute and jumping.Īpplause broke out in Mission Control when he touched down. "Guardian angels will take care of you," said Mission Control just before he jumped. Mission Control said during the jump that Baumgartner did not "break the record for time elapsed" before pulling the parachute. It may not have been the longest-lasting free fall. "He made it - tears of joy from Mission Control," the team said in a live feed.īaumgartner left the capsule attached to a huge helium balloon at 128,000 feet - 24 miles up - higher than anyone before him.Īfter an initial free fall, he opened his parachute and glided down to the ground, where he fell to his knees with his fists raised, then stood up, smiling and hugging members of his team. Broke record for highest manned balloon flight.Freefall lasted 4 minutes and 19 seconds.Hit maximum estimated speed of 1,137 km/h.Jumped from altitude of 39,044 meters or 128,097 feet.Read the full press release from Red Bull Stratos. Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner broke the speed of sound - at one point hitting Mach 1.24, according to a team official - during his record-setting jump from 128,000 feet Sunday over southeastern New Mexico.
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