Felix Baumgartner in his mission called “Red Bull Stratos” is standing in front of the biggest challenge that any professional skydiver have faced before!
After Felix Baumgartner completed the second successful test jump from 96,640 feet (29,460 m) above the Earth on 25 July 2012, the time has come for the real thing! Jumping from the highest point that no one has before and braking the speed sound barrier with his own body!

On the morning of Tuesday October 9, 2012 Felix Baumgartner will attempt a record-breaking jump from space. Baumgartner plans on holding the world record for highest-ever skydive, plunging from outer space at supersonic speeds, nearly 23 miles above Earth’s surface.

Mission “Red Bull Stratos” game plan consists of sending Baumgartner into the void of space, 120,000 feet (36,576 meters) above the southeastern part of New Mexico, this coming Tuesday morning. From there, he anticipates freefalling his way back home to Earth, thus making him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.

This record-breaking adventure is not just for fun; it could prove to be a fail-safe for future astronauts that encounter an emergency situation while deployed in space.

“Red Bull Stratos is an opportunity to gather information that could contribute to the development of life-saving measures for astronauts and pilots — and maybe for the space tourists of tomorrow,” Baumgartner said. “Proving that a human can break the speed of sound in the stratosphere and return to Earth would be a step toward creating near-space bailout procedures that currently don’t exist.”

Baumgartner will be aboard a custom-made pressurized, 55-story-high balloon capsule that is scheduled to launch Tuesday morning from Roswell, New Mexico. Seeing as the balloon’s material is 10 times thinner than that of a plastic sandwich bag, winds cannot reach more than 2 mph (3.2 kph) at time of liftoff; damages may occur to the vessel.

In the course of Baumgartner’s July 25 jump, he reached a top freefall speed of 537 mph (864 kph), which is about the speed of a commercial airplane. Baumgartner’s capsule during that jump, did jerk around some, but the brave skydiver managed to reach his planned altitude and to make the jump.

WC News questioned if Baumgartner had any fear with his anticipation of jumping from the stratosphere to Earth; it appears he does and it is a good thing for him. 43-year-old skydiving professional, Felix Baumgartner has leaped from some of the tallest buildings in the world, glided across the English Channel with only a carbon wing, free-fallen with the best of them and yet acknowledges fear as a positive aspect to his successful leaps and bounds through life.

“Having been involved in extreme endeavors for so long, I’ve learned to use my fear to my advantage,” Felix Baumgartner stated. “Fear has become a friend of mine. It’s what prevents me from stepping too far over the line.”

Good luck tomorrow, Felix! WC News is rooting for you!

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