How was your Sunday? For Felix Baumgartner it was a little more thrilling than all that. The so-called 'extreme athlete' skydived for 24 miles from the stratosphere before landing in the New Mexico desert.
From his capsule at roughly 128,097 feet above the earth, Baumgartner free-falled for most of the nine-and-a-half-minute descent, breaking the sound barrier to the euphoric cheers from those in the mission's control center in Roswell, N.M.
During the jump, daredevil Baumgartner—known as Fearless Felix— hit a record speed of 690 mph.
According to an article in Huffington Post, any rip in his pressurized suit could have exposed him "to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as minus-70 degrees." Needless to say, the stunt could have ended very badly, hence the 20-second delay in the live stream on the internet.
But though Baumgartner may be celebrating in true style, this jump will be his last. He plans to live the 'quiet life' with his girlfriend, flying rescue helicopters over mountains instead. As you do...
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