Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver, daredevil and BASE jumper. He set the world record for skydiving an estimated 39 kilometres (24 mi), reaching an estimated speed of 1357.64 km/h (843.6 mph), or Mach 1.25, on 14 October 2012, and became the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power on his descent. He is also renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.
Baumgartner’s most recent project was Red Bull Stratos, in which he jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere on 14 October 2012. As part of this project, he set the altitude record for a manned balloon flight, parachute jump from the highest altitude, and greatest free fall velocity.
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Felix Baumgartner Top Freefalls
Forth Road Bridge – Edinburgh
Torre Mayor
Felix Baumgartner – one of the world famous B.A.S.E. jumper known for defying gravity in places such as the Christ Statue of Rio de Janeiro, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the Mamet Cave in Croatia, and the Panama Channel among others – decided to jump to the emptiness from the 52nd floor of Torre Mayor and land in the heart of one of the most important avenues of Mexico City: Reforma.
Normally this wouldn’t be a major challenge for Felix, but due to the conditions that Mexico City presents for its geographical elevation, the freefall and the downward velocity become higher than in any place on Earth, causing a serious delay on the opening of Felix’s parachute.
“I feel very satisfied; it was a complicated jump because I had to manipulate my parachute a lot due to the air conditions from the buildings being around. Without any doubt it was a very different jump from those I have made before, with a big grade of difficulty.”