Skydiver hoping for supersonic jump

Extreme athlete and skydiver Felix Baumgartner hopes to end five years of preparation with a death-defying 23-mile (37km) free fall into the New Mexico desert today.

Weather permitting, the 43-year-old Austrian will take off in a 55-storey, ultra-thin and easy-to-tear helium balloon which will take him into the stratosphere for a jump that he hopes will make him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier and shatter three other world records.