Austrian extreme skydiver Felix Baumgartner, the first person to break the sound barrier during a freefall jump, has died in a paragliding accident.
Baumgartner, 56, was paragliding in Italy’s central Marche region yesterday when he lost control and crashed. He fell to the ground near a hotel in the town of Porto Sant’Elpidio. The town’s mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, said that reports suggest Baumgartner may have suffered a cardiac arrest while flying.
The man who jumped from the edge of space
Baumgartner is best known for a 2012 jump in which he skydived from a balloon on the edge of space. The project, called Red Bull Stratos, resulted in several firsts. Leaping almost beyond gravity in a custom suit, Baumgartner plunged toward Roswell, New Mexico, faster than the speed of sound.
During a nine-minute descent, he set three world records, including Maximum Vertical Speed (1,357.6kmph, 843.6mph/Mach 1.25), Highest Exit Jump Altitude (38,969.4m, 127.852.4ft), and Vertical Distance of Freefall (36,402.6m, 119,431.1ft).
Baumgartner jumps out from the capsule 38km above Earth during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos on October 14, 2012. Photo: Red Bull
A former Austrian military parachutist, Baumgartner had a long career spanning thousands of jumps. In 1999, he parachuted from the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, and in 2003, he flew across the English Channel using a carbon fibre wing.
