Felix Baumgartner, adventurer who jumped out of the stratosphere and broke the sound barrier of his descent

Felix Baumgartner, who died in a paramotoring accident at the age of 56, was a parachute jumper, base sweater and air helicopter pilot, who achieved global celebrity after jumping from the edge of space.

On October 14, 2012, the then 43-year-old parachute jumper made out of a printing capsule at a height of almost 24 miles and started a free fall to Earth. When he jumped, he said: “I'm coming home now.” Then he said: “It is almost overwhelming. If you are there in a pressure suit, the only thing you hear is breathing and you can see the curvature of the earth; you can see the sky completely black.”

It only took 34 seconds until he hit 1, the speed of the sound and a sound boom that could be heard from those who watch from the New Mexico desert below and the millions around the world that watched the mission live (more than eight million attitudes, a record for YouTube at that time, almost their servers.)

Then, to the horror of everyone, he got into an uncontrollable shoot. “Many scientists said before the jump:” They will turn like crazy, “he recalled in a documentary.” I was mentally ready to turn. The problem is that there is no protocol. There is no one in the world who tells them: “Hear Felix, if this happens, you have to do that.”

“I tried to move my arms a little – maybe it does something? – And then it stopped for a second [before going] in the opposite direction. Then it really increases and at that moment it is no longer about breaking records. It's all about survival. “

After a few nail -hiring moments, Baumgartner managed to leave the spin. Finally he opened his parachute after four minutes and 20 seconds and landed safely. He had become the first person who traveled faster than the speed of sound outside a vehicle and set the unofficial record for the highest manned balloon flight of 123,491 foot.

He also broke the record for the in 1960 by the Usaf Colonel Joseph Kittinger played the highest height, who was Baumgartner's mentor and communicator at Mission Control.

Baumgartner, before he steps out of the capsule, was aware of the need for some important words: “I wish the world could see what I see. Sometimes you have to go really high to understand how small they are.”

In 2014, the Google Manager Alan Eustace broke its height record. “Nobody remembers the second,” said Baumgartner.

Felix Baumgartner was born on April 20, 1969 in Salzburg, Austria, as the older son of a carpenter and a housewife. As a child, he had two ambitions to become parachutists and fly a helicopter. After completing an apprenticeship training as a machine operator and as a car mechanic, he entered the Austrian armed forces for five years and received training as a parachute jumper.

In 1996 he completed his first base jump from the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. The base jump was a nerve -seeking search variant of parachute jumping that jumps from solid structures (“base” for buildings, antennas, spans and earth). He devoted himself to the persecution full -time and was soon sponsored by the Energy Drinks Company Red Bull, based in Salzburg, who then embedded itself in extreme sports.

In 1999 he got a world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped out of the Petronas Towers in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Later this year he made the lowest base jump of 95 feet from the hand of Christ, the Savior statue in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2003 he was the first person to flew over the English Canal with a few specially produced carbon fiber wings. He jumped out of an airplane via Dover and landed in Cap Blanc-Nez near Calais 14 minutes later. “You are totally alone,” he said afterwards, “there is only her, your equipment, your wings – and your skills. I like it.”

He was the first person who studied from the Millau Viaduct in France in 2004, and the first person in 2006 in Malmö, Sweden, on which base jump from Base-Jump became. The following year he was the first, that of the 91st-goal observation deck of the then World Fallest building, in Taipi 101, in Taipi 101, in Taipi 101, in Taipei, in Taipi 101.

But it was the red Bull Stratos Edge-of-Space project that literally catapulted him into the stratosphere. Then he devoted himself to his other ambition in childhood. He had learned to fly a helicopter in 2006 and he became an air helicopter pilot for the flight bull team in Salzburg.

He had recently got into paraglidating sports and initially flew quickly and dynamic paracites – a cross between a kite and a conventional flight wing – and lately he has been enthusiastic about the paramotaging of the motorized paragliding, in which pilots fly paragliders on his back.

During the paramotorization in Porto Sant'elpidio on the Adriatic coast of the Marche region in Central -he had to suffer a fatal accident, apparently a medical emergency and fell into the swimming pool of a hotel.

He always denied that he took unnecessary risks: “I pay close attention to my flight preparation and do it extremely meticulously. That is me and that was always the message that I wanted to convey. People know that I never push things too far, whether on a solo flight through the mountains, a jump or an air exhibition before 100,000 people.”

On earth, Baumgartner was a controversial figure in his home country. In 2010 he was fined € 1,500 (£ 1,300) after pusing a Greek truck driver in the face during a confrontation on the roadside near Salzburg. He was also known for his robust political views and once told the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung: “You can't achieve anything in a democracy. We would need a moderate dictatorship where there are some people from the private sector who really know what they do.” He received the (negative) “Pink Handbag” from the Austrian women's media network for other uncompromising views, which also included immigration, the LGBTQ community and the Covid pandemic.

Baumgartner is survived by his 11 -year -old partner Mihaela Schwarzenberg, a Romanian television that he described in an interview for Playboy as his “great love”.

Felix Baumgartner, born on April 20, 1969, died on July 17, 2025

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