Felix Baumgartner fell faster than thought

Posted on Wednesday, 6 February, 2013 | Comment icon

14 comments | News tip by: Still Waters

Image credit: Red Bull / Youtube

The daredevil skydiver is believed to have fallen 15km/h faster than previous measurements indicated.

Felix Baumgartner made history back in October when he ascended to a height of more than 120,000ft in a special helium balloon before stepping off and plummeting back down to Earth at record breaking speeds. Details obtained at the time of the stunt suggested that Baumgartner had jumped from 128,100ft and hit a maximum speed of 833 miles per hour as he fell, but further analysis has now revealed that his actual height was 127,852.4ft and that his top speed was slightly higher at 843.6mph.

"Together, we proved that a human in freefall can break the speed of sound returning from near space, going through a transonic phase and landing safely on the ground," said medical director Dr Jonathan Clark. "That was a big part of the programme, and monitoring the mission was a meaningful event in aerospace medicine and physiology."

Austrian Felix Baumgartner fell even faster during his historic skydive last October than was originally thought. Subsequent analysis has revealed that the daredevil attained a speed of 1,357. 6km/h (843. 6mph) when he leapt from his stratospheric balloon.

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Source: BBC News

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Recent comments on this story

#5 Posted by Frank Merton on 6 February, 2013, 14:41

You must be an underwriter.

#6 Posted by Capt Amerika on 6 February, 2013, 16:04

Flippin 200 pound brass balls were affected by the Earths gravity. This guy is stone cold. I could not imagine making that jump, not in a million years.

#7 Posted by Frank Merton on 6 February, 2013, 16:12

Now I'm the opposite; were I younger and had the money I would love doing something like that. That one has already been done so it would have to be different, but wow what an experience, and not really that dangerous.

#8 Posted by marcos anthony toledo on 6 February, 2013, 16:12

I hope this may be used to save future astronaults lives.

#9 Posted by ancient astronaut on 6 February, 2013, 16:15

that is what you call haulin @ss. WOW.

#10 Posted by minera on 6 February, 2013, 16:26

I hope this doesn't become a trend for thrill seekers. Hate to have people dropping down all over the place........

#11 Posted by ReddWolfe on 6 February, 2013, 17:17

that really fast, that means he has a more likly chance of death.

#12 Posted by CRIPTIC CHAMELEON on 6 February, 2013, 19:42

Wow we now learnt you can plummet faster then the speed of sound.

#13 Posted by MedicTJ on 6 February, 2013, 20:20

Did he feel anything when he broke the sound barrier? He had to have.

#14 Posted by Major Payne on 7 February, 2013, 2:41

You may think Felix had some steel "you know what's" but think about Mr Joseph Kittinger who did the same thing (well nearly....19miles compared to 24miles....) back in 1960. This was before advanced pressure suits and reliable heaters in the capsule. If you get a chance to see the video of Jo Kittinger taking his plunge you will understand that this guys "you know what's" must have been bigger than Ben Hur because "nobody" had done this before. BTW Jo Kittinger held the record until Felix did his jump, also Jo was the director for Felix (seeing he was the... [More]

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