Parachute jump from space - an unprecedented event. Now in the world there are already extreme people who succumbed to this incredible record. Of course, formally, the jump itself was not made from outer space, but from the upper layers of the stratosphere, therefore it would be more correct to call it a jump from near space. The rest is the tricks of journalists to give the record even greater significance.
Austrian skydiver
The man who decided to parachute from space is an Austrian named Felix Baumgartner. He is a famous parachutist and base jumper, that is, he regularly makes extreme parachute jumps from fixed heights. The popularity came to him after performing several particularly dangerous, deadly stunts, as well as a parachute jump from outer space. The record is listed in the Red Book, which made Baumgartner truly famous.
It is known that in the past he was a military man, in the army he mastered parachuting. Felix Baumgartner was born in Salzburg. He was born in 1969.
First achievements
He set his first world record in 1999, when he decided on the highest parachute jump at that time from the building. Then he went flying from the Petronas Tower, located in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
In 2003, Baumgartner was the first on Earth to cross the entire English Channel using a specially made wing for it. It was made of carbon fiber.
It is noteworthy that Baumgartner also holds the record for the lowest jump in the history of base jumping. He jumped from his hand a statue of Jesus Christ, installed in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The height of this jump was only 29 meters, which was truly life threatening.
In 2004, the Austrian extreme continued to stamp records one after another. First, he was the first to make an impressive jump from Millau Viaduct, located in France, immediately after the completion of its construction. He was also the first to jump from a building known as Turning Torso. It is located in the Swedish city of Malmo. This record was submitted to him in 2006.
In 2007, he was the first to parachute from the 90th floor of the tallest building in the world at that time - Taipei in Taiwan. The height of this jump was 390 meters.
Assessing his achievements, many are frankly critical of them, calling Baumgartner himself an adrenaline addict, with which he categorically disagrees. He believes that he is the most ordinary person who likes to set complex tasks, and then solve them.
Partnership with Red Bull
The main sponsor of Baumgartner's records is the company Red Bull, with which he has been cooperating since 1988. It is this company that sponsors most of his incredible achievements.
The desire to make a parachute jump from an altitude of 36.6 kilometers became known back in 2010. He signed an agreement with Red Bull. The media immediately dubbed him a parachute jump from outer space. It was assumed that Baumgartner would be in a balloon. If everything succeeds, then he will become the first person in the world to overcome the sound barrier in a jump.
Felix proceeded to grueling training in a helmet and a special suit. During these classes, he discovered manifestations of claustrophobia, which had not previously been noticed. They managed to defeat her only with the help of a sports psychologist who worked closely with Baumgartner. Other experts were also connected.
The first attempt to make a parachute jump from outer space was planned for October 8, 2012. However, weather forecasters predicted bad weather, so it was decided to postpone the record to October 14.
Bounce
On October 14, a jump was made from a height of 128, 100 feet, which corresponds to 39 kilometers. He immediately went down in history as a parachute jump from space. Felix Baumgartner did everything almost flawlessly. He landed safely in the Roswell area in the US state of New Mexico.
According to detailed information provided by the newspaper Die Welt, the exact height of a parachute jump from space was 38, 969.4 meters.
Baumgartner Records
Currently, Felix Baumgartner holds four world records, which were never conquered by anyone. This is the highest altitude of a parachute jump, the largest free fall distance, the highest speed and the highest manned flight on a stratosphere balloon.
For example, the extremal free fall rate was even higher than the speed of sound, amounting to 1, 357.6 kilometers per hour. At the same time, he was in a state of free fall for almost 36 and a half kilometers. Parachute jump time from space - 4 minutes 20 seconds. Interestingly, the world achievement in the duration of free fall did not obey him. This achievement was left to the American pilot Joseph Kittinger. In 1960, he was in a free fall of 4.36 minutes using a stabilizing parachute. In 2012, he helped Baumgartner prepare for this record.
But the record he had broken for the duration of the free fall distance before that belonged to our parachutist Evgeny Andreev. The hero of the Soviet Union made 8 jumps from the stratosphere, in one of them he was in free fall 24 and a half kilometers. For this feat he was awarded the title of hero.
After the Baumgartner record, the FAI (International Aviation Federation) officially recorded three world records with the Austrian. A parachute jump from outer space was completed, as already indicated, from a height of 38, 969.4 meters, the extremal was 36, 402.6 meters in free fall, and its speed was 1, 357.6 kilometers per hour. These achievements rightfully belong to Baumgartner.
The live broadcast of this record was conducted on YouTube simultaneously to the whole world. Only the broadcast itself was watched by eight million people.
One of these three records at this point was broken. In October 2014, one of Google’s leading managers jumped from a height of 41, 240 meters. His name is Alan Eustace. As a result, his free fall distance was higher than that of Baumgartner, amounting to 37, 617 meters. But at the same time he used a stabilizing parachute, so his achievement was singled out by the International Aviation Federation in a special category.
Problems with law
Few people know, but Baumgartner had problems with the law. In 2010, he became a participant in a quarrel between a Greek truck driver and a German passenger car. During the conflict, he hit in the face of a truck driver.
In 2012, he was found guilty of causing bodily harm, obliging him to pay 1, 500 euros to the victim.
