On October 14, 2012, with the support of the Austrian company Red Bull, the 43-year-old Austrian parachutist Felix Baumgartner ( Felix Baumgartner) carried out a unique project "Red Bull Stratos", in which was beaten several world records .
Felix Baumgartner before the flight
Baumgartner climbed to the stratosphere of the Earth to a height of 39 kilometers in a fiberglass capsule attached to a balloon filled with helium. The weight of the gondola was 1400 kg, and the volume of the balloon - 850 000 cubic meters. The height of 39 km is record for the balloon lifts.and the volume of the balloon .
Balloon project Red Bull Stratos
Raise Baumgartner lasted about 2.5 hours. Raising to the desired height, Baumgartner, who was in the suit, jumped from the capsule and flew 36.5 kilometers in free fall, then opened the parachute and landed successfully.
Red Bull Stratos promotional video:
Felix Baumgartner's video from the stratosphere:
Felix Baumgartner's spacesuit:
Red Bull organized a broadcast on the YouTube site, which was watched by more than 8 million people, which became the record for live broadcasts on YouTube .Broadcasting was conducted with a delay of 20 seconds, so that in the event of a possible parachutist death, the audience did not see terrible personnel. The risk to life in this flight was really great. During the Baumgartner free fall, the was the first person in history to be able to overcome the supersonic speed of the without the engine. According to the organizers of the project, Baumgartner's maximum free fall speed was 1342 km / h( this speed will be checked by the International Aviation Federation).A dangerous moment in free flight was the beginning of Baumgartner's rotation with uncontrolled speed. However, we managed to cope with this. Baumgartner installed the with a new parachute altitude record, but he did not have 10 seconds to break the free fall record set by Soviet paratrooper Evgeny Andreev. Baumgartner too early opened the parachute;He could not properly estimate the distance to the Earth( his helmet's glass was fogged because of a breakdown in the space suit's heating system).
November 1, 1962 on the stratosphere "Volga" Evgeny Andreev and Pyotr Dolgov climbed to a height of 25.5 km., Then jumped off. Eugene Andreev flew 24.5 km.in a free fall and opened a parachute 1 km from the Earth. Time in free fall Andreeva was 4 minutes 30 seconds. Partner Andreeva Peter Dolgov had to jump right away, opening the parachute. Descent from this height should take 38 minutes. But at the exit from the cabin, there was a depressurization of the spacesuit and Dolgov was killed right in the air.
August 16, 1960 American parachutist Joseph Kittinger climbed the balloon to a height of 31.3 km., Then he made a jump first using a small stabilizing parachute, and after 4 minutes and 36 seconds the main parachute was opened. Since Kittinger was not in free fall in the full sense of the word( using a small parachute), his record in 4 minutes and 36 seconds is not recognized by the International Aviation Federation.