Felix Baumgartner

Felix Baumgartner was born in 1969, but his journey began at the age of 16, when he completed his first skydive and he never stopped after that. He became a military parachutist. He jumped from planes and helicopters many times. As an extreme athlete, he jumped from skyscrapers and landmarks, including the 101-story Taipei 101 in Taiwan. In all, he has parachuted more than 2,500 times.

Skydiver "Fearless Felix" jumped to Earth from an altitude of more than 29 kilometers on July 25, 2012 when he was 43 years old. It is three times higher than cruising jetliners. His top speed was 862 kph. After his jump he successfully landed near Roswell, New Mexico. "It has always been my dream," Baumgartner said. "Only one more step to go."

It is the second test jump for him. His first jump was on March 15, 2012. He was aiming for a record-breaking jump from 38,100 meters. For that jump, Baumgartner hoped to go supersonic. He would break the speed of sound with just his body.

Joe Kittinger held the record that Baumgartner wanted to break. In 1960, Kittinger jumped from 19.5 miles as an Air Force captain. Kittinger watched Baumgartner's most recent jump from a control station in Roswell.

For both test jumps, Baumgartner took off from Roswell. He went up into the sky alone in an enclosed capsule. The capsule was lifted by a giant helium balloon. Baumgartner wore a full-pressure. He also had parachutes and an oxygen supply because the atmosphere is too thin to breathe that far up.

It took one and a half hours to reach target altitude. When he reached the desired altitude, Baumgartner jumped from the capsule. He was in free fall for an estimated three minutes and 48 seconds before opening his parachutes. It might sound extremely scary for some people but definitely wasn’t for him because he is not stranger to extreme sports or parachuting.

His jump in 2012 was the highest freefall parachute jump and he achieved the Fastest speed in freefall. He took his place in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the First person to break sound barrier in freefall.