Felix Baumgartner stood alone at the edge of space, poised in the open doorway of a capsule suspended above Earth and wondering if he would make it back alive.

In a giant leap from more than 24 miles (38.6km) up, a daredevil skydiver shattered the sound barrier while making the highest jump ever – a tumbling, death-defying plunge from a balloon to a safe landing in the New Mexico desert.