An Austrian daredevil who hopes to set a world record for the highest freefall jump has completed a test jump from the edge of space.
Felix Baumgartner, 42, lifted off yesterday afternoon from a base in New Mexico and was carried to a height of 71,580ft (13.6 miles) in a pressurised capsule carried by a helium balloon.
Known as “Fearlesss Felix”, he was in freefall for three minutes and 43 seconds and reached a speed of up to 364mph (586km/h) before pulling the cords to his parachute.
The entire jump lasted eight minutes and eight seconds.
Only two other men have ever jumped from more than 70,000ft and it was the highest jump anyone has made for over half a century.
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But Baumgartner aims to go much higher this summer when he attempts a world record jump from 120,000ft (nearly 23 miles) beating the 102,800ft jumped by the American Joseph Kittinger in 1960. Mr Kittinger, now 83, is one of Mr Baumgartner’s advisers in the record attempt.
Mr Kittinger also set the record for the fastest speed reached by a falling human being — 614mph — before opening his parachute. From the greater height, and with the reduced drag of the upper atmosphere, Mr Baumgartner expects to break the speed of sound.