Skydiver goes supersonic in epic jump from edge of space

Victoria Jaggard, physical sciences news editor

(Image: Stefan Aufschnaiter/Red Bull Content Pool)

UPDATED 22:03 BST

"I'm coming home now."

That's the last thing skydiver Felix Baumgartner said before he stepped from a capsule floating at around 39 kilometres above the surface of the Earth just after 12pm local time in Roswell, New Mexico (7pm BST) - the site of mission control and not far from Baumgartner's safe landing about 5 minutes later.

Five years in the making - delayed once recently due to weather - today's successful dive means that Baumgartner has broken records set in the 1960s for the highest crewed balloon flight (41.8 kilometres) and the highest freefall jump (31.3 kilometres).

Preliminary data also suggest that Baumgartner did break the sound barrier during freefall, said Brian Utley, a representative from the National Aeronautic Association, during a press conference held today by the Red Bull Stratos team, which sponsored the jump. His reported maximum velocity on the way down was 1342.8 kilometres per hour, or Mach 1.24. Utley said he will now submit the figures for international certification.

The mission started at 9:30 am with the picture-perfect launch of Baumgartner's capsule, which was connected to a giant high-altitude helium balloon. Over the course of the next 2 and a half hours, millions tuned in to watch the live stream as the balloon lofted him toward the edge of space.

Baumgartner kept in constant contact with the NASA-style mission control via a voice link with Joe Kittinger, the former US Air Force test pilot who set the record for highest freefall jump in 1960.

In a mellow, encouraging tone, Kittinger walked the Austrian daredevil through several status checks, including the extensive checklist, known as the "egress check", that got Baumgartner ready to step from his capsule.

The only noticeable glitch came when Baumgartner announced that a heater in his visor didn't seem to be working, which might have spelled trouble once he stepped into the thin, frigid air in the stratosphere. But the team decided he should do the jump anyway, and the visor didn't cause any issues besides a bit of fogging on the way down.

Baumgartner stayed lucid throughout the descent and was able to control his parachute as he glided safely to the ground, coming to rest amid the scrub brush.

Asked at the press conference what he was thinking right before his jump, Baumgartner said: "When I was standing on top of world, you become so humble. You forget about setting records, and the only thing you want is to come back alive. This became the most important thing to me."

The Stratos team will now collect information from Baumgartner's suit and capsule on the skydiver's orientation, ECG, heart rate, respiratory rate and core body temperature - data that the team says will benefit studies of escape systems for astronauts and maybe even space tourists.

And what's next for Baumgartner himself? "I'd like to inspire the next generation. I'd like to be sitting like where Joe [Kittinger] is now with some young guy next to me asking for advice on how to break my record."

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/24778fe2/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C10A0Cskydiver0Esets0Erecords0Eduring0Ep0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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