Felix
Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver, daredevil and BASE
jumper. He set the world record for skydiving an estimated 39 kilometres (24
mi), reaching an estimated speed of 1,342 kilometres per hour (834 mph), or
Mach 1.24, on 14 October 2012, and became the first person to break the sound
barrier without vehicular power on his descent. He is also renowned for the
particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career.
Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practised parachute
jumping, including training to land on small target zones.
Baumgartner's most recent project was Red Bull Stratos, in which he jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere on 14 October 2012. As part of this project, he set the altitude record for a manned balloon flight, parachute jump from the highest altitude, and greatest free fall velocity.
Biogrpahy
Felix
Baumgartner was born, on 20 April 1969, in Salzburg, Austria.[8] When he was a
little boy, 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 25 July 2003, Baumgartner became
the first person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made
carbon fiber wing. Alban Geissler, who developed 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 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 the first person to jump from the 91st floor
observation deck of the then-tallest completed building in the world, Taipei
101 in Taipei, Taiwan.
From: www.wikipedia.org
From: www.wikipedia.org