Unofficially Breaks Multiple Records Over The Roswell, NM Desert

ANN Realtime Update 1715 EDT 10.14.2012

After flying to an altitude of 128,097 feet in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space Sunday morning (local time), exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane. 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.

Baumgartner landed safely with his parachute in the New Mexico desert after jumping out of his space capsule and plunging back towards earth, hitting a maximum of speed of 706 miles per hour through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his four-minute 19 second freefall. Baumgartner's jump lasted a total of 9:03. Countless millions of people around the world watched his ascent and jump live on television broadcasts and live stream on the Internet. At one point during his freefall Baumgartner appeared to spin rapidly, but he quickly re-gained control and moments later opened his parachute as members of the ground crew cheered and viewers around the world heaved a sigh of relief.
 
"It was an incredible up and down today, just like it's been with the whole project," a relieved Baumgartner said. "First we got off with a beautiful launch and then we had a bit of drama with a power supply issue to my visor. The exit was perfect but then I started spinning slowly. I thought I'd just spin a few times and that would be that, but then I started to speed up. It was really brutal at times. I thought for a few seconds that I'd lose consciousness. I didn't feel a sonic boom because I was so busy just trying to stabilize myself. We'll have to wait and see if we really broke the sound barrier. It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."
 
Baumgartner and his team spent five years training and preparing for the mission that is designed to improve our scientific understanding of how the body copes with the extreme conditions at the edge of space.

Baumgartner had endured several weather-related delays before finally lifting off under bright blue skies and calm winds on Sunday morning. The Red Bull Stratos crew watching from Mission Control broke out into spontaneous applause when the balloon lifted off.
 
The data on the records set by the jump are preliminary pending confirmation from the authorized governing bodies.
 

Original Story

Felix Baumgartner unofficially has broken at least three world's records with his jump from the fringe of space Sunday afternoon (EDT). He has unofficially flown higher than anyone had in a balloon before, and made the highest freefall. Whether he officially broke the sound barrier during freefall is also yet to be confirmed.

Baumgartner jumped from about 24 miles above the surface of the Earth. The freefall lasted 4:19, which would not break Joe Kittinger's freefall record.

The  Red Bull Stratos Mission team said the jump also will provide valuable data for scientist studying the potential for high-altitude bailouts from spacecraft in the event of an emergency.

(Top: YouTube image of Baumgartner exiting the capsule. Bottom: Photo courtesy Digital News Agency)

FMI: www.redbullstratos.com