Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner celebrated his unprecedented feat on Monday after becoming the first man to break the sound barrier

Austrian breaks the sound barrier

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner celebrated his unprecedented feat on Monday after becoming the first man to break the sound barrier in a record-shattering, death-defying freefall jump from the edge of space.
The 43-year-old leapt from a capsule more than 39 kms above the Earth on Sunday, reaching a top speed of 1,342 kmph, or 1.24 times the speed of sound, according to organisers.
The veteran skydiver was in freefall for four minutes and 20 seconds before opening his red and white parachute and floating down to the desert in the US state of New Mexico, said Red Bull Stratos mission record keeper Brian Utley.
Mission control erupted in cheers as Baumgartner sprung from the capsule hoisted aloft by a giant helium-filled balloon to an altitude of 128,097 feet, even higher than expected.
“I think 20 tons have fallen from my shoulders. I prepared for this for seven years,” he told ServusTV in Austria.
“It was the right decision,” added the Austrian, who broke three records: the highest freefall jump, the fastest freefall speed and the highest balloon flight by a human. He failed to make the longest freefall jump.
Baumgartner said he wasn’t even aware of breaking the sound barrier. “I didn’t feel the sonic boom, I think it happens behind you,” he said. The Austrian took more than two hours to get up to the jump altitude. —AFP