Man goes to near-space, checks out view, and jumps

Catherine Brahic, environment news editor

(Image: Jay Nemeth/Red Bull Content Pool)

Just moments after this picture of Felix Baumgartner was taken, the extreme skydiver was plumetting towards Earth at speeds reaching 862 kilometres per hour. His freefall from 29,455 metres lasted 3 minutes and 48 seconds. His parachute then opened, leading to a 10 minute and 36 second descent into the desert of New Mexico.

The preliminary peak altitude data make him the second person ever to have completed a jump from this altitude. But it was just a warm-up.

Baumgartner made this test jump, his last for the Red Bull Stratos project, on 25 July. For the final jump, scheduled for later this year, he will plummet from 120,000 feet (36,576 metres) - the highest ever space dive. He is expected to break the sound barrier during his freefall.

The aim of the Red Bull Stratos project is to test the latest pressure suits and safety measures that could be used in future space travel.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/21bed5fe/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C0A70Cman0Egoes0Eto0Enear0Espace0Echecks0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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