Felix Baumgartner prepares to make a 96,000 foot trial jump . Photo :
After 5 geezerhood of preparation , a lawsuit , a96,000 - pes tryout jump , andwind that twice delayed his attempt , Felix Baumgartner lastly made the highest and fastest jump in account yesterday . “ I know the whole world is take in , and I wish well the whole world could see what I see , ” he said as he stomach 128,100 feet above the Earth . “ Sometimes you have to go up really high to infer how small you really are . ” Then he jump .
Baumgartner , 43 , was delivered to those great heights by 40 - Akka , ultrathin plastic balloon — the largest ever made for a manned flight — impound to a bell shape - shaped , pressurise capsule that contained 10 time of day of atomic number 8 in the event that he had to ride it back down . The previous record bearer , Joe Kittinger ( who jumped from 102,800 human foot as part of Project Manhigh in 1960 ) serve as CAPCOM , or capsule communicator , and manoeuver Baumgartner through the mission .
When he leap , Baumgartner — who was already an completed BASE jumper — plummeted in a free free fall for 4 minutes and 20 seconds . He fell 119,846 feet , reaching 833.9 miles per hour ( Mach 1.24 ) and breaking the speed of sound , before deploying his chute .
Though the jump was a achiever , it was by no means picture perfect : On the ascent , Baumgartner reported a problem with the gadget that heated his faceplate , which caused it to obnubilate up . During the freefall , his faceplate becloud , his pegleg swelled up , and he conk out into a flavorless twirl and barrel bowl . “ There was a period of time I think I was in real trouble , ” he saidat the press conference after the jump . He had the option to apply his emergency drogue chute , which would have stabilize him . “ I knew if I push that button I would not go supersonic . I somehow have to make that call : Do I push that release and remain alive , or do I push through and break the speed of strait ? " The drogue chute would havedeployed automatically if the detector on his suit registered over 3.5 Gs for more than 6 seconds , but Baumgartner was capable to quickly stablize himself and manoeuver into position to break the pep pill of auditory sensation .
UPDATE : Now you could see part of Baumgartner ’s jump from his level of prospect — tick off out the TV from the headcam he weary during the leap :
