Daredevil Felix Baumgartner who made space edge jump dies in paragliding accident
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner, who gained fame in 2012 for his leap from the edge of space, has tragically died in a paragliding accident. The extreme sports enthusiast was declared dead this afternoon at the age of 56.
Baumgartner passed following a paragliding mishap in Italy. Local reports indicate that his craft landed in a swimming pool at a holiday resort, injuring a young girl on the ground.
Sources from the local fire and rescue service reported that Felix had expressed feeling unwell while airborne, subsequently losing control of the paraglider.
The girl struck by his paraglider was swiftly taken to hospital, but her condition is not considered serious.
Felix Baumgartner achieved global recognition in 2012 when he successfully executed a record-breaking jump from the stratosphere, a staggering height of 24 miles.
Having ascended to this altitude in a metal cabin attached to weather balloons, he made the jump unaided, deploying his parachute only 1.5 miles above the ground, reports the Mirror.
His descent from the 'edge of space' spanned approximately 10 minutes. The Stratos jump was sponsored by Red Bull, and became the centrepiece of a significant advertising campaign by the energy drink company.
In 2014, brand new footage of daredevil Felix Baumgartner's record breaking skydive from the edge of space was released.
The footage, captured using body mounted GoPro cameras, gave a first person view of the epic space jump, which saw him freefall more than 24 miles.
Baumgartner's amazing stunt, which broke multiple skydiving world records in October 2012, was broadcast live on the internet.
But the newly released footage gives a whole new perspective on the jump, allowing viewers to watch the freefall as he would have seen it.
Baumgartner, 43, reached a top velocity of 833.9 miles per hour, making him the first man to break the sound barrier in freefall.
He is also set a new record for the highest ever jump, leaping from the capsule at 128,000 ft, as well as the highest ever manned balloon flight.
Felix, 43, jumped from a tiny shelf outside the 11-by-8-foot fiberglass and acrylic capsule that was carried to 128,000 feet by an enormous balloon.
Baumgartner's ascent into the stratosphere was in a capsule attached to a 30 million-cubic-foot (850,000-cubic-metre) plastic balloon, which was about the thickness of a dry cleaning bag.
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The tragedy comes after a 24-year-old Brit was killed in a tragic wingsuit flight after he crashed into a Swiss mountain last month.
The thrill-seeker had successfully completed one jump, from a notorious launch site known as 'The Dumpster'. However, when he returned for a second leap disaster struck.
The latest tragedy unfolded in Switzerland, when a man reportedly lost control and smashed into a cliff at 6,500 feet on Saturday. Emergency services later recovered his body.
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