Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier today exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947 in an X-1 experimental jet.
Felix
Baumgartner was officially clocked at a maximum speed of 833.9 miles
per hour which is 1.24 times the speed of sound, otherwise known as Mach
1.24.
In
addition to breaking the speed of sound, Baumgartner broke the highest
manned balloon flight at 128,100 feet or 24.2 miles, the highest skydive
also at 128,100 feet, and the longest free fall before deploying a
parachute at 119,846 feet which lasted 4 minutes 20 seconds.
Brian
Utley, and official observer of the Federation Aeronautic
International, announced the official record breaking statistics at a
post-jump press conference.
Baumgartner
broke into a flat spin during the early part of his free fall which
worried observers on the ground because the near-vacuum atmosphere
provides little air resistence for Baumgartner to use to stabilize
himself.
However,
Baumgartner was able to stabilize himself for the remainder of the
descent which also allowed him to gain enough speed to break the sound
barrier.
The
prior world-record for the highest jump was set by Central Florida
native Col. Joseph "Joe" W. Kittinger, USAF at 102,800 feet in 1960.
Joe Kittinger was part of Baumgartner's mission control team for the
2012 Red Bull Stratos Jump.
VIDEO: Red Bull
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