Felix Baumgartner - Austrian Celebrity, BASE jumper

Felix Baumgartner, born on 20^th Apr 1969, is an Austrian parachute jumper, daredevil and BASE jumper. Felix Baumgartner set the global record for jumping, a calculable 39 kilometers (24 mi), reaching a calculable speed of 342 kilometers per hour (834 mph), or Mach 1.24, on 14^th Oct 2012, and became the first person to interrupt the retarding force without conveying power on his descent.

Felix Baumgartner is illustrious for the notably dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed throughout his career. Baumgartner enjoyed time with the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, together with coaching landing on tiny target zones. Felix Baumgartner's most up-to-date project was the Red Bull stratus cloud, with which he jumped to Earth on 14^th Oct 2012. As part of this project, he set records of altitude for a manned balloon flight, parachute jump from the best altitude, and greatest free fall rate.

Ever since Felix Baumgartner was a child, he imagined flying through the sky. Felix Baumgartner began jumping at the age of sixteen, honing his aero-acrobatic talents throughout his time with the Austrian military. Felix Baumgartner’s hero was Joseph Kissinger, the US Air Force pilot who set a record in 1960 by jumping from a plane at an altitude of 102,800 feet. Baumgartner worked as a mechanic and a motocross driver; however his main ambition was to establish himself as the best parachute jumper. In 1988, Felix Baumgartnerbegan performing art jump exhibitions for the drink company Red Bull that became his sponsor.

On 15^th March 2012 Felix Baumgartner completed the first of two check jumps from 21,818 meters (71,581 ft.). Throughout the jump he spent close to 3 minutes and forty three seconds in free fall, reaching a speed of over 580 kilometers per hour (360 mph), before opening his parachute. In total, the jump lasted close to eight minutes and eight seconds and Felix Baumgartner became the only person to successfully parachute from a height of over 21.7 kilometers (13.5 mi). In 2012, Baumgartner completed the second of two planned check jumps from 29,640m (96,640 ft.). It took Baumgartner 90 minutes to achieve the target altitude and his free fall lasted 3 minutes and 48 seconds before his parachutes were deployed.

The launch was originally planned for 9^th Oct 2012 but it was aborted due to adverse weather and rescheduled to 14^th Oct 2012. His jump from a record 39,045 meters or simply over 39 kilometers (24 mi) (128,100 ft.) was labeled “Land of Enchantment”. On the basis of tentative knowledge, Felix Baumgartner set the records for the best manned balloon flight (at constant height) and quickest speed of free fall at 1,342 kilometers per hour (834 mph) making him the first human to interrupt the retarding force outside a vehicle.

Felix Baumgartner set his most vital record on 14^th Oct 2012, when he jumped from a little capsule at an altitude of 128,100 feet and plummeted close to 24 miles downward at a speed of 833.9 miles per hour (Mach 1.24), the highest jump accomplished so far, and also the first to interrupt the retarding force. With the support of the Red Bull stratus cloud project team, Felix Baumgartner spent 5 years getting ready for this effort, along with creating check jumps from heights of 71,600 feet and 97,100 feet in early 2012.

Felix Baumgartner was coached by his childhood hero, Joseph Kissinger along with a variety of different consultants. On the date of his best leap, he was monitored by a mission-control team of three hundred engineers, scientists and physicians at a landing field in Roswell, New Mexico. Felix Baumgartner was forced up to the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere using a tiny space vehicle carried by an outsized argon balloon. He leaped from the capsule sporting a controlled pressure suit and helmet, and was in free-fall for over four minutes (falling close to twenty four miles. After 9 minutes, Felix Baumgartner touched ground safely close to Roswell, becoming the first human to travel quicker than the speed of sound while not on a craft or ballistic capsule.

Felix Baumgartner has been nominated for a World Sports Award and two categories in the NEA Extreme Sports Awards. He won the Bambi prize in 2012 in December. Felix Baumgartner was named one of "The Men of the Year 2012" by Top Gear magazine.