1. Felix Baumgartner Biography
Athlete (1969–)
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner made a record-
breaking, supersonic skydive from 24 miles above the earth
in October 2012.
2. Synopsis
Born in Salzburg, Austria, on April 20, 1969, daredevil Felix
Baumgartner began skydiving as a teenager. He has since
made high jumps from landmarks around the world, and has
"flown" across the English Channel after leaping from a
plane. In 2012, Baumgartner set a world record with a
supersonic skydive from a capsule 24 miles high in the
stratosphere over Roswell, New Mexico.
3. Early Life
Felix Baumgartner was born in Salzburg, Austria, on April 20,
1969, to Eva and Felix Baumgartner. He has one brother, Gerard
Baumgartner.
Beginning when he was a child, Baumgartner imagined flying
through the sky. He began skydiving at the age of 16, honing his
aero-acrobatic abilities during his time in the Austrian military.
His hero was Joseph Kittinger, the United States Air Force pilot
who set a record in 1960 by jumping from a plane at an altitude
of 102,800 feet.
Baumgartner worked as a mechanic and a motocross driver, but
his main ambition was to establish himself as a record-breaking
skydiver. In 1988, he began performing skydiving exhibitions for
the beverage company Red Bull, which became his sponsor
4. Jump Stunts
In the 1990s, Baumgartner added "BASE"—an
acronym standing for four platforms that a
parachute jumper uses as his starting points:
building, antenna, spans (bridges) and earth
(cliffs, etc.)—to his repertoire of stunts. In
1999, Baumgartner set a new world record for
parachute jumps when he leaped from the
landmark Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. Later that year, he jumped from the
Pirelli skyscraper in Milan, Italy. In 2007, he
tackled the Taipei 101 (formerly known as the
Taipei World Financial Center) in Taipei, China.
In a twist on this jump category, Baumgartner
made the world's lowest BASE jump from the
arm of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1999.
5. Record-Setting Skydive
Baumgartner set his most significant record on
October 14, 2012, when he jumped from a small
capsule at an altitude of 128,100 feet and
plummeted approximately 24 miles downward at
a top speed of 833.9 miles per hour (Mach
1.24)—the highest skydive accomplished to date,
and the first to break the sound barrier.
6. Baumgartner was pulled up to the
stratosphere (the second layer of
Earth's atmosphere) in a small
space capsule carried by a large
helium balloon. He leaped from
the capsule wearing a pressurized
spacesuit and helmet, and was in
free-fall for more than four
minutes (falling approximately 24
miles). After a total of nine
minutes, he touched ground safely
near Roswell, becoming the first
human to travel faster than the
speed of sound without an aircraft
or spacecraft.
