Supersonic Jump A Sucess
Felix Baumgartner became the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall on Sunday. After floating up to 128,100 feet in the Red Bull Stratos capsule, he stepped out into the thin air, reaching a top speed of 833.9 mph -- that's Mach 1.24. (And as Red Bull has pointed out, it was on the 65th anniversary of the day Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1.) As if watching a man step out of a perfectly good capsule wasn't rife with anxiety for the viewers, seeing Baumgartner begin to spin for what felt like an inhumanly long time -- and the cameras suddenly cut to a view of Mission Control in Roswell, New Mexico -- was downright terrifying. But Baumgartner pulled out of it, and the infrared cameras caught him as he flattened out, as you can see above. He hit the ground on his feet like the veteran skydiver he is, then quickly sank to his knees and raised his fists in victory.
Screenshot via Red Bull Stratos livestream
Advertisement
Comments