Science & Technology

Daredevil jumps from the edge of space

By T.K. Randall
October 15, 2012 ·  46 comments

Image Credit: Red Bull / Youtube The 43-year-old had climbed to the edge of space in a special capsule suspended beneath a helium balloon before jumping out to embark on his world record breaking jump. As he emerged from the capsule with thousands from around the world watching him via a live stream he turned to the camera and said "sometimes you have to go up really high to realise how small you are."

Felix plummeted back down towards the Earth in free fall for over four minutes before opening his parachute and landing safely on the ground. He broke the world record for the highest skydive, the highest manned balloon flight and the fastest freefall.

Things had looked uncertain at a couple of points during the attempt. During the capsule's ascent a heater failed on his faceplate meaning that his visor became fogged up when he breathed out. During his freefall there was also a moment in which he appeared to become unstable but was fortunately able to correct the problem, landing safely back on terra firma a few minutes later.[!gad]The 43-year-old had climbed to the edge of space in a special capsule suspended beneath a helium balloon before jumping out to embark on his world record breaking jump. As he emerged from the capsule with thousands from around the world watching him via a live stream he turned to the camera and said "sometimes you have to go up really high to realise how small you are."

Felix plummeted back down towards the Earth in free fall for over four minutes before opening his parachute and landing safely on the ground. He broke the world record for the highest skydive, the highest manned balloon flight and the fastest freefall.

Things had looked uncertain at a couple of points during the attempt. During the capsule's ascent a heater failed on his faceplate meaning that his visor became fogged up when he breathed out. During his freefall there was also a moment in which he appeared to become unstable but was fortunately able to correct the problem, landing safely back on terra firma a few minutes later.


Source: Sky News | Comments (46)

Tags: