‘You only want to come back alive’

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.

Thirty-eight kilometres below him, millions were right there with him, watching online, marvelling at the wonder of the moment.

A second later, he stepped off the capsule and barreled toward the New Mexico desert as a tiny white speck against a darkly-tinted sky. Millions watched him breathlessly as he shattered the sound barrier and then landed safely about nine minutes later, becoming the world’s first supersonic skydiver.

“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data,” Baumgartner said after the jump. “The only thing you want is to come back alive.”

The tightly-orchestrated jump, meant primarily to entertain, became much more than that in the dizzying, breathtaking moment — a collectively shared cross between Neil Armstrong’s moon landing and Evel Knievel’s famed motorcycle jumps.

It was part scientific wonder, part daredevil reality show, with the live-streamed event instantly capturing the world’s attention on a sleepy Sunday. It proved, once again, the power of the internet in a world where news travels as fast as Twitter.

The event happened without a network broadcast in the United States, though organisers said more than 40 television stations in 50 countries carried the live feed. Instead, millions flocked online, drawing more than 8m simultaneous views to a YouTube live stream at its peak, YouTube officials said.

More than 130 digital outlets carried the live feed, organisers said.

It was a last hurrah for what some have billed as a dying Space Age, as Nasa’s shuttle programme ends and the ways humans explore space is dramatically changing. As the jump unfolded, the space shuttle Endeavour crept toward a Los Angeles museum, where it will become nothing more than an exhibit.

Baumgartner, a 43-year-old Austrian, hit Mach 1.24, or 833.9 m/h, according to preliminary data, and became the first person to reach supersonic speed without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft. The capsule he jumped from had reached an altitude of 128,100 feet above Earth, carried by a 55-story ultra-thin helium balloon.

Landing on his feet in the desert, the man known as ‘Fearless Felix’ lifted his arms in victory to the cheers of jubilant friends and spectators who closely followed at a command centre. Among them was his mother, Eva, who was overcome with emotion.

“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are,” an exuberant Baumgartner told reporters outside mission control after the jump.

About half of Baumgartner’s nine-minute descent was a free fall of 119,846ft, according to Brian Utley, a jump observer from the FAI, an international group that works to determine and maintain the integrity of aviation records.

During the first part of Baumgartner’s free fall, anxious onlookers at the command centre held their breath as he appeared to spin uncontrollably.

“When I was spinning first 10, 20 seconds, I never thought I was going to lose my life but I was disappointed because I’m going to lose my record. I put seven years of my life into this,” he said.

Baumgartner said travelling faster than sound is “hard to describe because you don’t feel it.” The pressurised suit prevented him from feeling the rushing air or even the loud noise he made when breaking the sound barrier.

With no reference points, “you don’t know how fast you travel,” he said.

Co-incidentally, Baumgartner’s accomplishment came on the 65th anniversary of the day that US test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first man to officially break the sound barrier in a jet.

At Baumgartner’s insistence, some 30 cameras recorded his stunt. Shortly after launch early Sunday, screens at mission control showed the capsule, dangling from the massive balloon, as it rose gracefully above the New Mexico desert. Baumgartner could be seen on video, calmly checking instruments inside the capsule.

The dive was more than just a stunt. Nasa is eager to improve its blueprints for future spacesuits.

Baumgartner’s team included Joe Kittinger, who first tried to break the sound barrier from 19.5 miles up in 1960, reaching speeds of 614 m/h. With Kittinger inside mission control, the two men could be heard going over technical details during the ascension.

“Our guardian angel will take care of you,” Kittinger radioed Baumgartner around the 100,000ft mark.