Red Bull Stratos is the name of the project which involves Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner and his attempt to break the sound barrier on his descent from approximately 23 miles (37 km) into the stratosphere over Roswell, New Mexico.
As I’m writing this article, Baumgartner is on board the capsule attached to a helium balloon in the ascent stage.
Along with being the first man to reach supersonic speed without external power, the 43-year-old Austrian skydiver will also attempt to break three other world records—the highest altitude jump, the longest time in free fall and the highest manned balloon flight ever.
The entire free fall ride is expected to last about 10 minutes.
At transonic and supersonic speeds “his blood could boil. His lungs could overinflate. The vessels in his brain could burst. His eyes could hemorrhage. And, yes, he could break his neck while jumping from a mind-boggling altitude of 23 miles,” the Associated Press reported.
The proposed launch on Oct. 9 was delayed then postponed due to high winds.
If you click on this link, you’ll be redirected to the live coverage of the event on Youtube, watched by 5.4M visitors.
Here’s the moment when he jumped from the capsule. In a .gif file.
