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Trained in the Austrian army as a parachutist, skydiver and BASE jumper "Fearless" Felix Baumgartner made history in October 2012 as the star of the Red Bull Stratos project. After having made two high-altitude test jumps under the guidance of previous jump altitude record holder Col. Joseph Kittinger, Baumgartner got in a balloon that was launched from Roswell, New Mexico. The balloon ascended for two and a half hours before reaching an altitude of 127,851 feet, breaking the balloon altitude record. Baumgartner began depressurizing the capsule as he prepared to jump, and Col. Kittinger, who was serving as CAPCOM for this flight, said on the radio "Start the cameras, and our guardian angel will take care of you." Baumgartner turned on his suit-mounted cameras, opened the door, and said "I know the whole world is watching now. I wish you could see what I can see. Sometimes you have to get up really high to see how small you are. I'm going home now."

Standing in the upper stratosphere at the edge of space, Felix Baumgartner jumped out of the capsule and plummeted toward the Earth. During his four and a quarter minutes of freefall, he reached a speed of 844 miles per hour, or Mach 1.25. This was the first time any human being had broken the sound barrier without the use of any engine, and proved that supersonic skydiving was possible and survivable. Baumgartner then deployed his parachute and spent most of five minutes slowing down before landing in the New Mexico desert, where he was recovered by a helicopter and returned to Roswell. The capsule later returned to Earth, landing safely with its own parachute, and was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It is on display in the exhibit on lighter-than-air aircraft, including balloons and dirigibles, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Though the skydiving altitude record was broken in 2014 by American computer scientist R. Alan Eustace, Baumgartner's other records still stand, opening the door to the possibility of new aviation records being set and broken in the future.

Description
Trained in the Austrian army as a parachutist, skydiver and BASE jumper "Fearless" Felix Baumgartner made history in October 2012 as the star of the Red Bull Stratos project. After having made two high-altitude test jumps under the guidance of previous jump altitude record holder Col. Joseph Kittinger, Baumgartner got in a balloon that was launched from Roswell, New Mexico. The balloon ascended for two and a half hours before reaching an altitude of 127,851 feet, breaking the balloon altitude record. Baumgartner began depressurizing the capsule as he prepared to jump, and Col. Kittinger, who was serving as CAPCOM for this flight, said on the radio "Start the cameras, and our guardian angel will take care of you." Baumgartner turned on his suit-mounted cameras, opened the door, and said "I know the whole world is watching now. I wish you could see what I can see. Sometimes you have to get up really high to see how small you are. I'm going home now."

Standing in the upper stratosphere at the edge of space, Felix Baumgartner jumped out of the capsule and plummeted toward the Earth. During his four and a quarter minutes of freefall, he reached a speed of 844 miles per hour, or Mach 1.25. This was the first time any human being had broken the sound barrier without the use of any engine, and proved that supersonic skydiving was possible and survivable. Baumgartner then deployed his parachute and spent most of five minutes slowing down before landing in the New Mexico desert, where he was recovered by a helicopter and returned to Roswell. The capsule later returned to Earth, landing safely with its own parachute, and was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It is on display in the exhibit on lighter-than-air aircraft, including balloons and dirigibles, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Though the skydiving altitude record was broken in 2014 by American computer scientist R. Alan Eustace, Baumgartner's other records still stand, opening the door to the possibility of new aviation records being set and broken in the future.