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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Felix Baumgartner, adventurer who leapt from the stratosphere and broke the sound barrier on his descent
Felix Baumgartner, who has died in a paramotoring accident aged 56, was a daredevil skydiver, BASE jumper and aerobatic helicopter pilot who achieved global celebrity after leaping from the edge of space. It was on October 14 2012 that the then 43-year-old skydiver stepped out of a pressurised capsule at an altitude of almost 24 miles and began a freefall to Earth. As he jumped he said: 'I'm coming home now.' Afterwards, he said: 'It's almost overwhelming. When you're standing there in a pressure suit, the only thing that you hear is yourself breathing, and you can see the curvature of the Earth; you can see the sky's totally black.' It took just 34 seconds for him to hit Mach 1, the speed of sound, creating a sonic boom that could be heard by those watching from the New Mexico desert below and the millions around the world watching the mission live (more than eight million tuned in, a record for YouTube at the time, almost breaking their servers.) Then to everyone's horror, he went into an uncontrollable spin. 'A lot of the scientists said prior to the jump, 'You're going to spin like crazy', he recalled in a documentary. 'I was mentally prepared to spin. The problem is there's no protocol. There's nobody in the world telling you: 'Listen Felix, if this happens you have to do this.' 'I was trying to move my arms around a little bit – maybe it does something? – and then it stopped for a second [before going] in the opposite direction. Then it really ramps up, and at that moment it's not about breaking records any more. It's all about survival.' After a few nailbiting moments, Baumgartner managed to exit the spin. Finally, after four minutes and 20 seconds he opened his parachute and landed safely. He had become the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound outside a vehicle and set the unofficial record for the highest manned balloon flight, of 123,491ft. He also broke the record for the highest-altitude jump, set in 1960 by the USAF Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who was Baumgartner's mentor and communicator at mission control. Before stepping from the capsule, perhaps conscious of the need for some portentous words, Baumgartner said: 'I wish the world could see what I see. Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are.' In 2014 the Google executive Alan Eustace broke his altitude record. 'Nobody remembers the second one,' said Baumgartner. Felix Baumgartner was born on 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria, the elder son of a carpenter and a housewife. As a child he had two ambitions, to become a skydiver and to fly a helicopter. After completing an apprenticeship as a machinist and working as a car mechanic, he enlisted in the Austrian armed forces for five years, receiving training as a parachutist. He completed his first BASE jump in 1996 from the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. BASE jumping had emerged as a thrill-seeking low-altitude variant of skydiving that involved leaping from fixed structures ('BASE' stands for buildings, antennas, spans and earth). He dedicated himself to the pursuit full-time and was soon sponsored by the Salzburg-based energy drinks company, Red Bull, which was then embedding itself in extreme sports. In 1999 he claimed a world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he leapt from the Petronas Towers in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Later that year he made the lowest ever BASE jump, of 95ft, from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. In 2003 he became the first person to fly across the English Channel using a pair of specially made carbon-fibre wings. He leapt from a plane above Dover and landed 22 miles away in Cap Blanc-Nez, near Calais, 14 minutes later. 'You're totally alone,' he said afterwards, 'there's just you, your equipment, your wing – and your skills. I like it.' He became the first person to BASE-jump from the Millau Viaduct in France in 2004, and the first person to skydive on to, then BASE-jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden, in 2006. The following year he became the first to jump from the 91st-floor observation deck of the then world's tallest completed building, Taipei 101, in Taiwan. But it was the Red Bull Stratos edge-of-space project that catapulted him into the stratosphere, literally and metaphorically. Afterwards, he dedicated himself to his other childhood ambition. He had learnt to fly a helicopter in 2006, and he became an aerobatic helicopter pilot for the Flying Bulls team in Salzburg. More recently he had got into paragliding sports, initially flying fast and dynamic parakites – a cross between a kite and a conventional aerofoil wing – and latterly he had enthuiastically taken to paramotoring, the sport of motorised paragliding, in which pilots fly paragliders with an engine propeller on their back. It was while paramotoring in Porto Sant'Elpidio on the Adriatic coast of the Marche region in central Italy that he suffered a fatal accident, apparently undergoing a medical emergency and crashing into the swimming pool of a hotel. He always denied that he took unnecessary risks: 'I pay close attention to my flight preparation and do it extremely meticulously. That is who I am and that was always the message I wanted to convey. People know that I never push things too far, whether on a solo flight through the mountains, a jump or at an air show in front of 100,000 people.' Down on Earth Baumgartner was a controversial figure in his homeland. In 2010 he was fined €1,500 (£1,300) after punching a Greek truck driver in the face during a roadside altercation near Salzburg. He was also noted for his robust political views, once telling the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung: 'You can't achieve anything in a democracy. We would need a moderate dictatorship, where there are a few people from the private sector who really know what they're doing.' He received the (negative) 'Pink Handbag' award from the Austrian Women's Media Network for other uncompromising views, which also covered immigration, the LGBTQ community and the Covid pandemic. Baumgartner is survived by his partner of 11 years, Mihaela Schwartzenberg, a Romanian television presenter who he referred to as his 'great love' in an interview for Playboy. Felix Baumgartner, born April 20 1969, died July 17 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Feeling supersonic: Remembering Felix Baumgartner, the man who fell from space
Euronews Culture had the opportunity to interview Baumgartner in 2022, to mark the 10th anniversary of his legendary jump. We remember the intrepid record-breaker and the impact he had on the world of extreme sports. Here is our interview from 2022: 10 years ago on 14 October 2012, Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian parachutist, captivated the world when he jumped from a capsule 40km above the New Mexico desert, on the very edge of space. In total, the remarkable feat broke three world records – the highest free fall, the highest manned balloon flight and he became the first man to break the speed of sound in free fall (he reached 1361.5 kmh!). The YouTube live stream of the event also reached more than 8 million concurrent viewers, the highest amount in the website's history. To celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the jump Baumgartner and Red Bull have released Space Jump, a new 40 minute documentary showing never-before-seen images and perspectives of the skydive. We recently caught up with the Austrian adventurer to discuss the new documentary and reflect on the legacy of his death-defying plunge. Euronews Culture: How does it feel looking back on Red Bull Stratos, 10 years on? Felix Baumgartner: In retrospect I have a lot of good memories of it, even if it was not always fun to work on the programme. Especially when I found out that I was getting claustrophobic inside the space suit. That moment was a real showstopper and I had to find a solution. I had never worked on a project like it, so I learnt how to become a team player. I was not used to being around so many people because as a base jumper it's just you, your parachute and your decision making. But once you sign up to a project like Red Bull Stratos there's just so many people in the team. After working on a project of that size I don't really fear any other project, no matter the size. I'm meeting a lot of fans. People that I didn't see while I was doing it. And a lot of them are telling me that this was their personal moon landing How has your life changed since the jump? FB: It didn't really change my life - I still have the same friends, I'm still a humble person, all the way down to Earth. It just opened up a lot of doors. I was travelling around the world. I did a lot of TV shows, I met Tom Cruise, Gerard Butler and I had a really good conversation with James Cameron, the guy who went down into the Mariana Trench in 2012 in a submarine called Deep Sea Challenger. So I met a lot of very interesting people. Still to this day I'm meeting a lot of fans. People that I didn't see while I was doing it. And a lot of them are telling me that this was their personal moon landing. I'm not saying my jump is comparable with the moon landing, that's a much bigger accomplishment. But from an emotional standpoint it is comparable. Do you think the feat will ever be accomplished again? FB: There's always somebody out there who will break your record, but I'm happy with this because I was the first one. And as we remember from history, nobody ever remembers the second one. When did you first get into skydiving? FB: I was always fascinated in skydiving ever since I was a little kid. I remember spending a lot of time on top of trees, always seeing the world from above, that birds eye view. As soon as I turned 16 I went to the local skydiving club. They taught me how to skydive and that's where everything started. Then a couple of years later I joined the Austrian military as a paratrooper. Then later on I started to BASE jump. I started to travel around the world and BASE jump off very well known landmarks. I BASE-jumped off the highest building in the world, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, I BASE-jumped off the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro, so a lot of very famous landmarks. And then in 2005 I signed up for Red Bull Stratos, which was the most complicated project I've done so far. What is your advice for someone seeking to accomplish their own dreams? FB: I think it's very important that you surround yourself with the right people, you have to listen learn and you need a lot of discipline. Don't look left and right just go for it. As I always say big dreamers always win. Are you still skydiving today? FB: Since 2012 I have done four skydives, but I'm more focused on helicopter flying. It was my second childhood dream. My first was becoming a skydiver, which I did at the age of 16, my second dream was becoming a helicopter pilot. I'm a commercial pilot now and Red Bull also taught me how to fly aerobatics in a helicopter two years ago, so I'm now really busy with air shows all around the world. Tell us about your new documentary with Red Bull, Space Jump FB: 10 years later you look at things in a different way. 10 years ago everyone was under pressure, we had to deliver, we had to do something that had never been done before. 10 years later everyone is a lot more relaxed. The film has a lot of insight and a lot of things that we've never spoken about before. So it's definitely worth the watch, I was very happy when I saw it for the first time. It was very emotional and brought back a lot of good memories. What's next for you? FB: I've always had the dream to go to the moon because I still think to this day that it's the biggest accomplishment, to set foot on another planet. And so far there's only been 12 people on the moon. So I would take any chance to go the moon, that's something I'd really love to do. RIP Felix Baumgartner: 1969 - 2025
The Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Felix Baumgartner reflects on iconic space jump in resurfaced clip after his death
Felix Baumgartner reflects on his iconic space jump in a resurfaced clip following his death. The Austrian extreme sportsman, known for his record-breaking skydive from the edge of space, died following a paragliding accident in Italy on Thursday (17 July). The 56-year-old made headlines around the world in October 2012 when, wearing a specially made suit, he jumped from a balloon 38km (24 miles) above Earth, becoming the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, typically measured at more than 690 mph.
