An Austrian daredevil with a penchant for jumping off buildings is gearing up for an even more nerve-racking escapade: he plans to fall to Earth from a helium-filled balloon on the edge of space, dropping faster and further than any parachutist before.
Felix Baumgartner, 40, will have to live up to the “Fearless Felix” nickname that fans have given him. He wants to become the first freefalling human to break the sound barrier. “When I jump, I’ll be going on a journey that no one has ever done,” said Baumgartner, a former member of Austria’s special forces. “But you absolutely can’t let fear take a hold of you.”
He has leapt from the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro, plunged into a 600ft-deep cave and sky-dived over the Channel. His planned jump from 120,000ft, or 23 miles, later this year — the exact date is a secret because of the competition — is “the biggest goal I can dream of”, he said.
It is also a leap into the unknown: nobody knows much about the effect on the human body of passing through the sound barrier. “It’s a challenge,” said Baumgartner. “But it’s not my style to embark upon a project unless I’m 100% confident that I can achieve my goal.”
A team of engineers, including former Nasa scientists, is building a balloon and pressurised capsule to carry him into the stratosphere. This will involve breaking a record for the highest balloon flight. He also hopes to break the records for the longest and fastest freefall as well as the highest parachute jump.
He will wear an astronaut’s suit to protect him from perils such as oxygen deprivation, boiling body fluids, solar radiation and temperatures as low as minus 100C. The suit will also guard his ears against the sonic boom he is expected to create when passing the sound barrier at 768mph.
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