Red Bull Stratos: Mission Accomplished
Red Bull Stratos: Mission Accomplished
Austria’s Felix Baumgartner earned his place in the history books on Sunday after overcoming concerns
with the power for his visor heater that impaired his vision and nearly jeopardized the mission.
Baumgartner reached an estimated speed of 1,342.8 km/h jumping from the stratosphere, which when
certified will make him the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall and set several other
records* while delivering valuable data for future space exploration.
ROSWELL, New Mexico – After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled
balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed Sunday morning a record breaking jump for the ages from the
edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an
experimental rocket-powered airplane. The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke two other
world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to
project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger.
Baumgartner landed safely with his parachute in the desert of New Mexico after jumping out of his space
capsule at 39,045 meters and plunging back towards earth, hitting a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h
through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his
4:20 minute long freefall. Countless millions of people around the world watched his ascent and jump
live on television broadcasts and live stream on the Internet. At one point during his freefall Baumgartner
appeared to spin rapidly, but he quickly re-gained control and moments later opened his parachute as
members of the ground crew cheered and viewers around the world heaved a sigh of relief.
“It was an incredible up and down today, just like it’s been with the whole project,” a relieved
Baumgartner said. “First we got off with a beautiful launch and then we had a bit of drama with a power
supply issue to my visor. The exit was perfect but then I started spinning slowly. I thought I’d just spin a
few times and that would be that, but then I started to speed up. It was really brutal at times. I thought for
a few seconds that I’d lose consciousness. I didn’t feel a sonic boom because I was so busy just trying to
stabilize myself. We’ll have to wait and see if we really broke the sound barrier. It was really a lot harder
than I thought it was going to be.”
Baumgartner and his team spent five years training and preparing for the mission that is designed to
improve our scientific understanding of how the body copes with the extreme conditions at the edge of
space.
Baumgartner had endured several weather-related delays before finally lifting off under bright blue skies
and calm winds on Sunday morning. The Red Bull Stratos crew watching from Mission Control broke out
into spontaneous applause when the balloon lifted off.
* The data on the records set by the jump are preliminary pending confirmation from the authorized
governing bodies.
Pictures: Joerg Mitter, Predrag Vuckovic, Balazs Gardi, Stefan Aufschnaiter
Editor’s Notes:
Red Bull Stratos Newsroom
Media content will be updated regularly. To download all available media materials, including moving
images, still images, press releases and factsheets, please visit: www.RedBullStratosnewsroom.com.
Red Bull Stratos Media Contacts
North America, Central America, South America
Derrick Lerum
Email: [email protected]
Tel (Montana, USA): +1 210.347.5177
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia
Trish Medalen
Email: [email protected]
Tel (California, USA): +1 415.302.1400
