His winged freefall across the English Channel in was unprecedented and in he successfully completed the extreme sports event of this century with his Red Bull Stratos jump from the edge of space, which was seen by millions worldwide. Felix was in free fall for 4m 22s and reached an estimated speed of The jump set the record for the highest manned balloon height, fastest speed of free fall and the first human to break the sound barrier outside of a vehicle.
His work, alongside a team of the world's top scientists, engineers and doctors, advanced aeronautical research.
To celebrate his achievements, at the start of he was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation hall of fame for pilots and astronauts. Kittinger: As I was going aloft in Project Manhigh in , the first time man was at the edge of space in a pressurized suit, we discovered that a valve had been put in backwards.
So instead of pressurizing the gondola, it was pressurizing the outside. I had to turn off the pressurization system and use my pressure suit to pressurize the gondola as I was rapidly going through my oxygen supply. Well, it was about in the morning and the sun was coming up, heating the gas in the balloon. As I was valving the gas off to come down, the sun kept heating it up [making it expand and keep the balloon from descending].
After about an hour of that, one of the doctors on the ground called up and asked how much oxygen I had left. I told him I had enough. They came unglued on the ground. One of the doctors even said I had altitude psychosis, a breakaway phenomena. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here.
More From Forbes. The danger of the event was emphasised by the fact that the "live" broadcast had a built-in delay, allowing the public to be spared a gruesome spectacle in the event of tragedy. After the long tension-building ascent, Felix could be heard running through the checklist with Col Kittinger and telling of the unexpected fogging of his visor. This issue was resolved quickly. After depressurising the capsule — the point of no return — Felix perched on its ledge for a few final moments before making his death-defying, multiple record-breaking leap to Earth.
He started 99, ft higher than Mount Everest and it took him just minutes to get back to Earth. During his stratospheric skydive, Felix reached a top speed of 1, Felix says he is "officially retired from the daredevil business", and now puts his efforts into his helicopter and public service as a firefighter.
His incredible achievement has led to significant advances in research into the stratosphere and space, as well as spacesuits and safety equipment. Each year our knowledge of once unreachable places keeps on growing.
After deploying his parachute he then descended for a further 4ms, giving him a total jump duration of 9ms. Baumgartner had been planning to make the jump for seven years, since first seriously examining the idea in A base jumper and experienced skydiver with over 2, jumps he wore a full pressure suit, similar to those used by astronauts, during the ascent and the jump.
The jump was not only a high profile stunt. Baumgartner's team gathered invaluable and unique data for the development of high-altitude parachute systems.
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