Felix Baumgartner Survives Practice Jump From 96,640 Feet

We talked more than a few times about Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner. The man has a goal of making the world's first skydive from space. The daredevil has been conducting practice jumps over the last several months and made his most recent practice jump this week. On July 25, Baumgartner climbed into his specially made capsule attached to a high-altitude balloon and traveled to 96,640 feet.

Once at that altitude, Baumgartner opened the capsule door and jumped into oblivion. The daredevil free fell for 3 min. and 48 seconds reaching a top speed of 536 mph. After opening his parachute, Baumgartner finally landed safely back on Earth 10 minutes and 30 seconds after he jumped out the capsule.

The ultimate goal is to jump from 125,000 feet. Baumgartner and his team hope to make the 125,000-foot jump in the next month or so. The current record for the highest altitude skydive ever made stands at 102,800 feet. That record was set in 1960 by US Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger. Even at 125,000 feet, Baumgartner will be roughly 200,000 feet away from actually making it into space.

[via Space.com]