Baumgartner: All I wanted was to come 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.
Felix Baumgartner hit Mach 1.24, or 833.9mph (1,342kph) yesterday, according to preliminary data, and became the first man to reach supersonic speed without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft after hopping out of a capsule which had reached an altitude of 128,100ft (39,045m) above the Earth.
