Felix jumps into the record books

Felix Baumgartner landed gracefully on Earth after a 38km jump from the stratosphere in a dramatic, record-breaking feat that may mark the world’s first supersonic skydive.

Baumgartner came down safely in the eastern New Mexico desert about nine minutes after jumping from his capsule 128,097ft above Earth. He lifted his arms in victory, sending off cheers from jubilant onlookers and friends inside the mission’s control centre in Roswell.

“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are,” Baumgartner told reporters shortly after the jump.

The altitude he leapt from marked the highest ever for a skydiver, though it wasn’t immediately certain whether Baumgartner had broken the speed of sound during his freefall, which was one of the goals of the mission. The descent lasted for just over nine minutes, about half of it in freefall.

Three hours earlier, Baumgartner, known as “Fearless Felix”, had taken off in a pressurised capsule carried by a 55-story ultra-thin helium balloon.

After a tense ascent, which included concerns about how well his facial shield was working, the 43-year-old former military parachutist completed a final safety checklist with mission control.

As he exited his capsule from high above Earth, he gave the thumbs-up, well aware that the feat was being shown live online.

During the jump — from more than three times the height of the average cruising altitude for jetliners — Baumgartner was expected to hit a speed of 1,110km/h. He was believed to have reached even faster speeds.

Any contact with the capsule on his exit could have torn his pressurised suit, a rip that could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as -70 degrees. That could have caused lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids.

But none of that happened. He activated his parachute as he neared Earth, gently gliding into the desert east of Roswell and landing without any difficulty. The images triggered another loud cheer from onlookers at mission control.

He was taken by helicopter to meet fellow members of his team, whom he hugged in celebration.

Coincidentally, Baumgartner’s attempted feat marked the 65th anniversary of US test pilot Chuck Yeager’s successful attempt to become the first man to officially break the sound barrier aboard a plane.

At Baumgartner’s insistence, some 30 cameras recorded the event yesterday. Shortly after launch, screens at mission control showed the capsule as it began rising high above the New Mexico desert, with cheers erupting from organisers. Baumgartner could be seen on video, calmly checking instruments inside the capsule.

Baumgartner’s team included Joe Kittinger, who first attempted to break the sound barrier from 31km up in 1960, reaching speeds of 988km/h. With Kittinger inside mission control yesterday, the two men could be heard going over technical details during the ascension.

“Our guardian angel will take care of you,” Kittinger radioed to Baumgartner around the 100,000ft mark, adding that it was getting “really serious” now.

This attempt marked the end of a five-year road for Baumgartner, a record-setting high-altitude jumper. He already made two preparation jumps in the area, one from 24km high and another from 19km high. He has promised this will be his final jump.

Baumgartner said he plans to settle down with his girlfriend and fly helicopters on mountain rescue and firefighting missions in the US and Austria.