After flying to an altitude of 39,045
meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner
completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space,
exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying
in an experimental rocket-powered airplane.
Felix reached a maximum of
speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833mph) through the near vacuum of the
stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his 4:20
minute long freefall.
The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also
broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon
flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor Col.
Joe Kittinger.