Speed Of Sound Broken By Sky Diver Felix Baumgartner [VIDEO]
Felix Baumgartner's death-defying skydive on Sunday, Oct. 14, from space broke the speed of sound, making him the first person to ever do so.
Right before his jump, Fearless Felix said, "The whole world is watching now. I'm coming home."
The 43-year-old Austrian skydiver set three world records on Sunday: top speed during free fall, free fall from the highest altitude and highest manned balloon flight.
He broke the speed of sound after jumping from an altitude of 128,097 feet, the highest ever attempted by a human being and more than 24 miles above Earth. The speed of sound is 768 mph or about one mile in five seconds. It is defined as the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium.
Baumgartner's free fall lasted 4:19 minutes and he reached an estimated speed of 834.37 mph, according to the Red Bull Stratos mission team. He became the first person to reach supersonic speed without traveling in a jet or spacecraft, according to the Los Angeles Times.
His set altitude broke Joseph Kittinger's world record at 102,800 feet set in 1960.
Baumgartner landed on both feet near Roswell, New Mexico, and when he did, he fell on his knees and raised his arms in the air.
"Let me tell you - when I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble. You don't think about breaking records anymore, you don't think about gaining scientific data - the only thing that you want is to come back alive," Baumgartner said at a press conference after the jump.
Baumgartner's live stream video drew more than 8 million viewers, breaking the record for the most watched live event on YouTube, the video sharing site said Sunday.
"We congratulate Felix Baumgartner and the entire Red Bull Stratos team for their successful mission, and for creating a livestream with the most concurrent views ever on YouTube," YouTube said in a statement.
