Skydiver Breaks World Record By Jumping 128,000ft From Space

Millions held their breath yesterday as Felix Baumgartner appeared to spin out of control during his 24-mile skydive.
The 43-year-old smashed FOUR RECORDS with his astonishing leap from the edge of space.
The journey to earth from his jump point of 128,100ft — shown live on TV and online — took nine minutes and three seconds.


What makes his victory more interesting is the fact that  he spinned out of control at about 100,00ft but managed to steady himself, just when viewers were starting to panic.
Felix spent more than four minutes in freefall — hitting 833.9MPH before opening his parachute 5,200ft above the ground.
He said: “When I was standing up there on top of the world, you become so humble, you don’t think about breaking records any more, you just want to come back alive.

“I said, ‘I wish the world could see what I see and sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are’.”
Before leaping from his capsule Felix, an Austrian, saluted his team and said: “I am going home.”

After landing, he fell to his knees and held his fists up in triumph. Parents Eva and Felix senior and girlfriend Nicole Oetl were waiting.
The records he smashed were completing the highest and fastest freefall jump, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without an aircraft and manning the highest balloon flight.
Almost 7.3million people watched the descent. The jump was sponsored by Red Bull but total costs have not been disclosed.

Felix’s suit alone cost £12,442, while the team lost £37,000 to £43,500 in helium with an earlier aborted jump.