Felix Baumgartner
Felix Baumgartner (; born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian
skydiver,
daredevil and
BASE jumper. He is widely known for jumping to Earth from a
helium balloon from the
stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in
New Mexico, United States, as part of the
Red Bull Stratos project. Doing so, he set world records for skydiving an estimated , reaching an estimated top speed of , or
Mach 1.25. ''
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale'', 14 October 2012. Accessed: 18 November 2013.}}, Exit Altitude (#16670) , and Vertical Distance of Freefall (#16671) . 14 October 2012 flight did not break the FAI Absolute Altitude (#2325) record for balloon flight set in 1961 by
Malcolm Ross, which requires the balloonist to descend with the balloon.}} He became the first person to break the
sound barrier relative to the surface without vehicular power on his descent. He broke skydiving records for exit altitude, vertical freefall distance without a
drogue parachute, and vertical speed without a drogue. Though he still holds the two latter records, the first was broken two years later, when on 24 October 2014,
Alan Eustace jumped from with a drogue.
Baumgartner is also renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. He spent time in the
Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.
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