Felix Baumgartner

External images
Deltawing top view [1]
Deltawing side view [2]
Felix Baumgartner [3]

Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria) is a skydiver and a BASE jumper. He is renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.

Contents

Biography

He was born on 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria.

In 1999 he claimed the world record for the highest parachute dive from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

On 31 July 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to cross the English Channel in freefall using a specially made fibre wing.[4]

Baumgartner set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.[5]

He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004 and the first person to sky dive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on 18 August 2006.[6]

On 12 December 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck, then went to the 90th floor (about 390 m (1,280 ft)) of the then tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan.[7]

In January 2010, it was reported that Baumgartner was working with a team of scientists and sponsor Red Bull to attempt the highest sky-dive on record.[8] Baumgartner was going to do the 120,000 ft (36,600 m) jump from a capsule suspended from a balloon filled with helium, intending to become the first parachutist to break the sound barrier; the feat was scheduled to take place sometime in 2011 (the date has either not been set or has not been publicized).[9][10][11] Joseph Kittinger, who holds the records Baumgartner is attempting to break, was advising Baumgartner during the "Stratos" mission in the hopes of getting scientific data on next-generation full pressure suits.[8][12] However, on October 12, 2010, Red Bull announced it was placing the project on hold after Daniel Hogan filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, California in April, claiming he had originated the idea of the parachute dive from the edge of space in 2004 and that Red Bull had stolen the idea from him.[13][14] The lawsuit was resolved out of court in June 2011.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Thursday's photos of the day BBC Sport, Image 3 of 5, Austrian Felix Baumgartner jumps out of a plane above Dover and becomes the first person to skydive across the English Channel, 31 July 2003. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  2. ^ Week in pictures: 26 July - 1 August BBC News, 6 of 10, Austrian, Felix Baumgartner, is the first person to skydive across the English Channel. 4 August 2003. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  3. ^ Skydiver's Channel flight BBC News Newsround, Image 6/6 After the record breaking flight, a safe landing for Felix, undated. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  4. ^ "Birdman Flies Atair Parachutes Across English Channel". Atairaerospace.com. 2003-11-21. http://www.atairaerospace.com/press/2003/11/birdman-flies-atair-parachutes-across.html. Retrieved 2010-05-18. 
  5. ^ The Man Who Would Fall to Earth, Esquire, p. 4, 2010-07-14, accessed 2010-07-14; "he leapt from the outstretched hand of O Cristo Redentor, the ninety-eight-foot-tall statue that looms over Rio de Janeiro. ...the final product was ... a world record — lowest BASE jump ever".
  6. ^ "Pr-jippo kan sluta med åtal". 2006-08-18. http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/pr-jippo-kan-sluta-med-atal-1.682661. Retrieved 5 December 2010.  (Swedish)
  7. ^ "Extreme Felix Baumgartner jumping off Taipei 101". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8U-z-SnbJU&feature=related. Retrieved 2010-05-18. 
  8. ^ a b Charles Q Choi (22 January 2010). "'Space diver' to attempt first supersonic freefall". New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18427-space-diver-to-attempt-first-supersonic-freefall.html. Retrieved 2010-01-29. 
  9. ^ "Man to Break Sound Barrier Jumping from Edge of Space". Gizmodo.com. http://gizmodo.com/5454895/man-to-break-sound-barrier-jumping-from-edge-of-space. Retrieved 2010-05-18. 
  10. ^ Tony Paterson (25 January 2010). "Faster than the speed of sound: the man who falls to earth". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/faster-than-the-speed-of-sound-the-man-who-falls-to-earth-1877875.html. Retrieved 2010-01-29. 
  11. ^ Quain, John R. (11 April 2010). "Daredevil to Plunge From Outer Space in Supersonic Suit". FOXNews.com. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/09/felix-baumgartner-red-bull-supersonic-suit/. Retrieved 2010-05-18. 
  12. ^ John Tierney (March 15, 2010). "A Supersonic Jump, From 23 Miles in the Air". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/science/16tier.html?src=me&ref=general. Retrieved 2010-03-17. 
  13. ^ Pasztor, Andy (12 October 2010). "Lawsuit Grounds Red Bull". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164004575548514271289990.html. 
  14. ^ "Statement regarding Red Bull Stratos". http://redbullstratos.digitalnewsagency.com/story/view/4992-statement-regarding-red-bull-stratos/all. Retrieved 5 December 2010. 
  15. ^ "Official statement on closing of legal case". Red Bull Stratos press release. 30 June 2011. http://www.redbullstratos.com/JumpOnHold.aspx. 
  16. ^ Dermot McGrath. "The Man Who Will Fall to Earth". Wired.com. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/07/53928. Retrieved 2010-05-18. 

External links