Red Bull Stratos jumps from the Edge of Space

After the preivous aborted attempt due to strong winds, the Red Bull Stratos "jump from the edge of space" has finally gone ahead and surpassed the free fall jump from the highest ever altitude done in 1960 by Joseph Kittinger (which was a part of this new attempt, this time on the mission control room).

Up in the air, inside a tiny capsule suspended by one of the biggest balloons ever made, was Felix Baumgartner. After nearly 2h30 os ascent, the capsule finally hovered at around 128,000 feet (nearly 39km high), and after a final, adrenaline inducing, checklist... he jumped, breaking the sound barrier (still pending confirmation) on his way down. 10 minutes later... he was standing on the ground as if it had been just a regular free fall jump.

An amazing achievement. The only question remaining is... will it take an extra 50 years for anyone to try and break it again? Anyone care to pitch in when a 100 mile high jump will be made? :)

The free fall video follows - and we're still waiting to see footage recorded by the cameras Felix had on him. (There were some nasty spins in the first parts of the fall, with not enough air to allow for proper control of the falling position.)



Video from his chest camera already available: