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29-540: As jet planes flew higher and faster in the 1950s, the Air Force became increasingly worried about the safety of flight crews who had to eject at high altitude. Tests in Operation High Dive with dummies had shown that a body in free-fall at high altitude would often go into a flat spin at a rate of up to 200 revolutions per minute (about 3.3 revolutions per second). This would be potentially fatal. Project Excelsior

58-575: A drogue parachute , and vertical speed without a drogue. Though he still holds the two latter records, the first was broken two years later, when on 24 October 2014, Alan Eustace jumped from 135,890 feet (41.42 km; 25.74 mi) with a drogue. Baumgartner is also renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. He spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones. Felix Baumgartner

87-501: A 28 ft (8.5 m) diameter main parachute that deployed at a lower altitude. The system included timers and altitude sensors that would automatically deploy both parachutes at the correct points in the descent, even if the parachutist were unconscious or disabled. To test the parachute system, staff at Wright Field built a 200 ft (61 m) high helium balloon with a capacity of nearly 3,000,000 cubic feet (85,000 m) that could lift an open gondola and test pilot into

116-425: A height of 10,000 feet (3,048 m). Despite this near-disaster on the first test, Kittinger went ahead with another test only three weeks later. The second test, Excelsior II, was made on December 11, 1959. This time, Kittinger jumped from an altitude of 74,700 feet (22,769 m) and descended in free-fall for 55,000 feet (16,764 m) before opening his main parachute. The third and final test, Excelsior III,

145-403: A height of over 21.7 km (13.5 mi). On 25 July 2012, Baumgartner completed the second of two planned test jumps from 29,460 metres (96,640 ft). It took Baumgartner about 90 minutes to reach the target altitude and his free fall was estimated to have lasted three minutes and 48 seconds before his parachutes were deployed. The launch was originally scheduled for 9 October 2012 but

174-429: A helium balloon. On 15 March 2012, Baumgartner completed the first of 2 test jumps from 21,818 metres (71,581 ft). During the jump, he spent approximately 3 minutes and 43 seconds in free fall, reaching speeds of more than 580 km/h (360 mph), before opening his parachute. In total, the jump lasted approximately eight minutes and eight seconds and Baumgartner became the third person to safely parachute from

203-506: A ninth place overall finish. Baumgartner had one fight which he won. In October 2012, when Baumgartner was asked in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung whether a political career was an option for his future life, he stated that the "example of Arnold Schwarzenegger " showed that "you can't move anything in a democracy" and that he would opt for a "moderate dictatorship [...] led by experienced personalities coming from

232-488: A velocity of 240–290 km/h. At an altitude of 17,500 feet (5,334 m), Kittinger opened his main parachute and landed safely in the New Mexico desert. The whole descent took 13 minutes and 45 seconds and set a world record for the highest parachute jump. An hour and thirty-one minutes after launch, my pressure altimeter halts at 103,300 feet. At ground control the radar altimeters also have stopped-on readings of 102,800 feet,

261-538: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This aviation -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Felix Baumgartner Felix Baumgartner ( German: [ˈfeːlɪks ˈbaʊ̯mˌɡaʁtnɐ] ; born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver , daredevil and BASE jumper . He is widely known for jumping to Earth from a helium balloon from the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in New Mexico , United States, as part of

290-465: The Red Bull Stratos project. Doing so, he set world records for skydiving an estimated 39 km (24 mi), reaching an estimated top speed of 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph), or Mach 1.25. He became the first person to break the sound barrier relative to the surface without vehicular power on his descent. He broke skydiving records for exit altitude, vertical freefall distance without

319-465: The pressurized suit required for the jump, but overcame it with help from a sports psychologist and other specialists. In 2014, Baumgartner decided to join Audi Motorsport to drive an Audi R8 LMS for the 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring after racing Volkswagen Polos in 2013. He underwent another intense physical and driver training session to prepare him for the race. He helped the team to

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348-489: The stratosphere . Captain Joseph Kittinger, who was test director for the project, made three ascents and test jumps. As the gondola was unpressurized, Kittinger wore a modified David Clark MC-3A partial pressure suit during these tests, plus additional layers of clothing to protect him from the extreme cold at high altitude. Together with the parachute system, this almost doubled his weight. The first test, Excelsior I,

377-793: The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for the Nobel Peace Prize . Later on, Baumgartner endorsed the presidential candidate of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria , Norbert Hofer . On 13 July 2016, Facebook deleted his fan page of 1.5 million fans. Baumgartner subsequently claimed that he must have become "too uncomfortable" for "political elites". After Austrian authorities refused to grant sports tax breaks to Baumgartner, he moved to Arbon , Switzerland, whereupon his house in Salzburg and his helicopter were seized. Baumgartner dated Playboy German playmate of

406-682: The SKYRAY carbon fiber wing with Christoph Aarns, suggested after Baumgartner's jump that the wing he used was a copy of two prototype SKYRAY wings sold to Red Bull (Baumgartner's sponsor) two years earlier. Baumgartner also set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, when he jumped 29 metres (95 ft) from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro . This jump also stirred controversy among BASE jumpers who pointed out that Baumgartner cited

435-407: The ascent, climbing to an altitude of 102,800 feet (31,333 m). The ascent took one hour and 31 minutes and broke the previous crewed balloon altitude record of 101,516 feet (30,942 m), which was set by Major David Simons as part of Project Manhigh in 1957. Kittinger stayed at peak altitude for 12 minutes, waiting for the balloon to drift over the landing target area. He then stepped out of

464-467: The figure that we later agree upon as the more reliable. It is 7 o'clock in the morning, and I have reached float altitude ... Though my stabilization chute opens at 96,000 feet, I accelerate for 6,000 feet more before hitting a peak of 614 miles an hour, nine-tenths the speed of sound at my altitude. A plaque attached below the open door of the Excelsior III gondola read, "This is the highest step in

493-459: The first human to break the sound barrier outside a vehicle. Baumgartner was in free fall for 4 minutes and 19 seconds, a fall time 17 seconds shorter than the record set during mentor Joseph Kittinger 's jump on 16 August 1960. Kittinger was also his radio contact during the jump. Two years and 10 days later Baumgartner's altitude record was broken by Alan Eustace . Baumgartner initially struggled with claustrophobia after spending time in

522-471: The first person to conduct an unauthorized BASE jump from the 91st floor observation deck of the then-tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101 in Taipei , Taiwan. Baumgartner was then banned from re-entry into Taiwan as a result of the incident. In January 2010, it was reported that Baumgartner was working with a team of scientists and sponsor Red Bull to attempt the highest sky-dive on record, using

551-435: The gondola to begin his descent. The small stabilizer parachute deployed successfully and Kittinger fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, setting a long-standing world record for the longest free-fall. During the descent, Kittinger experienced temperatures as low as −94 °F (−70 °C). In the free-fall stage, he reached a top speed of 614 miles per hour (988 km/h). For context, a free-falling average human body moves at

580-614: The height of the statue as the height of the jump even though he landed on a slope below the statue's feet, and that other BASE jumpers had previously jumped from the statue but avoided publicity. He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004 and the first person to skydive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö , Sweden, on 18 August 2006. On 12 December 2007, he became

609-455: The private (sector of the) economy". He finally stated that he "didn't want to get involved in politics." On 6 November 2012, Baumgartner was convicted of battery and was fined €1500 after slapping the face of a Greek truck driver, following a petty argument between the two men. In January 2016, Baumgartner provoked a stir of critical news coverage in his home country after posting several critical remarks against refugees and recommending

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638-507: The world". Kittinger held the world records for highest parachute jump and highest speed of a human in atmosphere until October 14, 2012 when Felix Baumgartner jumped from 127,852 feet (38,969 m) and reaching a speed of 377.12 m/s as part of the Red Bull Stratos project, with Kittinger serving as a technical advisor to Baumgartner. Kittinger does, however, still hold the records for longest drogue fall and longest freefall. Kittinger's efforts during Project Excelsior proved that it

667-566: Was a secret project carried out during the 1950s by the United States Air Force . It tested high-altitude parachutes using anthropomorphic dummies . The dummies went into a 200 rpm flat spin , which would be fatal to a human. Further investigations on this led to Project Excelsior . It may later have been confused with Project Mogul and thus helped form the account of the Roswell incident . This United States Air Force article

696-472: Was aborted due to adverse weather conditions. Launch was rescheduled and took place on 14 October 2012. Baumgartner landed in eastern New Mexico after jumping from a then world-record 38,969.3 metres (127,852 feet), falling a record distance of 36,402.6 metres (119,431 feet) and parachuting the final 2,566.7 metres (8,421 feet). During this descent Baumgartner set the record for fastest speed of free fall at 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph), making him

725-676: Was born to mother Eva in Salzburg , Austria. His younger brother is Gerard. As a child, he dreamed about flying and skydiving. In 1999, he claimed the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia. On 20 July 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made carbon fibre wing. Alban Geissler, who developed

754-410: Was initiated in 1958 to design a parachute system that would allow a safe, controlled descent after a high-altitude ejection. Francis Beaupre, a technician at Wright-Patterson AFB , Ohio, devised a multi-stage parachute system to facilitate human tests. This consisted of a small 6 ft (2 m) diameter stabilizer or "drogue" parachute, designed to prevent uncontrolled spinning at high altitudes, and

783-465: Was made on August 16, 1960. During the ascent, the pressure seal in Kittinger's right glove failed, and he began to experience severe pain in his right hand from the exposure of his hand to the extreme low pressure. (See Space exposure .) He decided not to inform the ground crew about this, in case they should decide to abort the test. Despite temporarily losing the use of his right hand, he continued with

812-402: Was made on November 16, 1959. Kittinger ascended in the gondola and jumped from an altitude of 76,400 feet (23,287 m). In this first test, the stabilizer parachute was deployed too soon, catching Kittinger around the neck and causing him to spin at 120 revolutions per minute. This caused Kittinger to lose consciousness, but his life was saved by his main parachute which opened automatically at

841-642: Was possible for an air crew to descend safely after ejecting at high altitudes. President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Kittinger the C. B. Harmon Trophy for his work on Excelsior. Kittinger also received an oak leaf cluster to the Distinguished Flying Cross , the J.J. Jeffries Award, the A. Leo Stevens Parachute Medal , and the Wingfoot Lighter-Than-Air Society Achievement Award . Operation High Dive Operation High Dive (also known as Project High Dive )

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