Free Republic

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) -- Google executive Alan Eustace broke the sound barrier and set several skydiving records over the southern New Mexico desert early Friday after taking a big leap from the edge of space. Eustace's supersonic jump was part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corp. and its Stratospheric Explorer team, which has been working secretly for years to develop a self-contained commercial spacesuit that would allow people to explore some 20 miles above the Earth's surface. Friday's success marked a major step forward in that effort, company officials said. "This has opened up endless possibilities for humans...

Col. Joe Kittinger may be one of the most interesting people alive today. Not only did he set the record for the highest and longest skydive in history in 1960, but the 85-year-old retired Air Force colonel was also the first person ever to observe the curvature of the Earth from the edge of outer space, and the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in a helium balloon. Kittinger sat down with “Politics Confidential” to discuss his life’s many adventures and what it was like to help break his own skydiving record in 2012 as part of...

Explanation: What would it be like to fall to Earth from really high up? A new record for the highest jump was accomplished in 2012 by Felix Baumgartner. Surpassing the previous record of 31.3 kilometer plummet, Baumgartner, in a commercial venture, jumped off a floating balloon platform 39.0 kilometers above New Mexico, USA and had his entire fall recorded on video. Baumgartner wore a pressurized suit able to provide breathable air and warmth while up in the balloon and during his fall. Free falling 36.4 km before deploying his parachute, Baumgartner surpassed 1,000 km per hour and the sound barrier...

Now that the dust has settled in the New Mexico desert where supersonic skydiver "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner landed safely on his feet, researchers are exhilarated over the possibility his feat could someday help save the lives of pilots and space travelers in a disaster.

Oh, our aching sides! As Twitchy reported yesterday, daredevil and skydiver Felix Baumgartner made his space jump, in which he hoped to travel faster than the speed of sound. Science is hard, to lapdogs. Especially for the ones at MSNBC, evidently. Sound? Light? Same difference! No need to let pesky science get in the way.

Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner made a death-defying free fall that made him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, according to organizers. In a journey that lasted over nine minutes, he fell at a speed of 1,342.8 km/h, which broke the sound barrier — 1,200 km/h. That amounts to Mach 1.24, which is faster than the speed of sound. No one has ever reached that speed wearing only a high-tech suit. Baumgartner, now known as 'Fearless Felix', has broken the record for the highest free fall ever, the fastest free fall and the highest manned balloon ride, said organizers.

Red Bull Stratos Post Jump Press Conference. Felix Baumgartner completed his jump and set a new world record for the highest skydive and breaking the sound barrier. In this press conference he answers questions about his experience.

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings. The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target. The technology was demonstrated in spectacular fashion three years ago when Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner - a pioneer of freefall gliding - famously 'flew' across the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft 30,000ft above Dover and...

An Austrian with a carbon wing strapped to his back will attempt to be the first man to fly across the English Channel unaided. Felix Baumgartner plans to leap from a plane 30,000 feet (9,000 metres) above Dover and glide over the 22 miles (35 kilometres) of water to France. At times he will reach speeds of 224mph (360kph) in temperatures as low as -68C. He hopes to land by parachute in Cap Blanc-Nez near Calais, after seven minutes in the air. The 34-year-old former mechanic and motor cross driver said he was confident he would become the first person...

Austrian-born Felix Baumgartner will plummet 125,000 feet in a fall that will see him break the sound barrier. His jump, which is being assisted by former Nasa and US Air Force engineers, will feature in a documentary to be shown on BBC Two later this year.

Ordinarily, Felix Baumgartner would not need a lot of practice in the science of falling. He has jumped off two of the tallest buildings in the world, as well as the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro (a 95-foot leap for which he claimed a low-altitude record for parachuting). He has sky-dived across the English Channel. He once plunged into the black void of a 623-foot-deep cave, which he formerly considered the most difficult jump of his career. But now Fearless Felix, as his fans call him, has something more difficult on the agenda: jumping from a helium balloon...

A privately funded team will attempt this year to break a 50-year-old record for the highest-altitude parachute jump, floating a balloon well into the stratosphere before its pilot leaps out for a supersonic free fall. The team behind the Red Bull Stratos mission announced details of the attempt here Friday morning in a media briefing. If all goes as planned, a towering helium balloon will loft Austrian-born skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner, 40, roughly 37 kilometers into the air before he begins his descent. (BASE stands for "buildings, antennas, spans, Earth"—the places and structures from which a BASE parachutist...

Here’s Felix Baumgartner’s plan: Float a balloon to 120,000 feet. Jump out. Break the sound barrier. Don’t die. Simple, right? If Baumgartner, a world famous base jumper and skydiver, pulls off the feat, he’ll set the record for the world’s highest jump and become the first person to break the sound barrier with his body alone. During the jump, he’ll also collect data on how the human body reacts to a fall from such heights, which could be useful for planning orbital escape plans for future space tourists and astronauts. Dubbed the Red Bull Stratos and sponsored by the...

An Austrian daredevil is planning to become the first person to break the sound barrier in a free fall, without riding in a vehicle. This summer in New Mexico, Felix Baumgartner hopes to make the highest, longest and fastest fall ever.

An extreme sports fanatic said today he felt “great” after he became the first man to cross the English Channel in an unpowered flight. Felix Baumgartner jumped from a plane about 30,000ft above Dover shortly after 5am and glided 22 miles across the Channel in a 10-minute flight wearing a specially-adapted suit with a wing-like carbon fibre fin attached to his back. In freezing air temperatures, the 34-year-old Austrian began the flight at a speed of about 220 miles per hour before slowing to around 135 miles an hour. Baumgartner made a crunching parachute landing at Cap Blanc-Nez, near...

The Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner says his next goal is to try to break the long-standing record for the highest ever parachute jump. It is 50 years since the American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800ft (31km). Many have sought to repeat the feat down the decades but all have failed. Baumgartner, who is famous for stunts such as jumping off the Petronas Towers, aims to skydive from a balloon sent to at least 120,000 ft (37km). It is likely that in his long freefall of more than five minutes, he will exceed the...

Pilot Felix Baumgartner will announce today at 9 a.m. EST his intention to expand the boundaries of aerospace exploration by attempting to become the first person ever to break the speed of sound with the human body. Baumgartner hopes to ascend in a capsule lifted by a helium balloon to the upper reaches of the stratosphere to at least 120,000 feet and, protected by a full-pressure “space suit,” launch a freefall jump that could exceed Mach 1.0 – more than 690 miles per hour – before parachuting to Earth. If successful, the Red Bull Stratos mission hopes to establish four...

Basejumper Felix Baumgartner will attempt to break the speed of sound by freefalling from the edge of space, nearly 23 miles up, above Roswell. It is the ultimate in parachute jumps: from the edge of space, Felix Baumgartner will leap from a balloon, plummeting to the ground 120,000 feet below. Currently preparing in New Mexico, Baumgartner - who has previously made headlines with the lowest base jump ever recorded, off the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and for crossing the English Channel in freefall - was calmness personified as he explained what the incredible leap will...

The Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner will attempt to become the first human to break the sound barrier unaided by a vehicle. He is going to jump out of a balloon at more than 120,000ft (36.5km) above Roswell, New Mexico. In the near vacuum at that altitude, he should accelerate beyond about 690mph (1,110km/h) within 40 seconds. If all goes well, he will open a parachute near the ground to land softly in the desert, 10 minutes later.

There will be a second attempt today for Felix to jump from a ballon at 120,000 feet and parachute, breaking the record for high altitude jumps. There should be a live feed on the website.