Felix Baumgartner jumps from the stratosphere into the history books

Felix Baumgartner did it. After numerous weather delays and preparations, the extreme athlete has jumped and completed the longest free fall known to man.

The experienced BASE jumper broke the previous record set by United States Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger (who jumped from 102 800 feet in 1960) by jumping from 128 100 feet. He then fell for 119 846 feet before deploying his parachute.

It was part of the Red Bull Stratos mission.

“Baumgartner wants to become the first person to break the speed of sound without the protection of an aircraft while simultaneously collecting data never obtained before for the advancement of medical science,” says Redbull.

The jump, which was livestreamed on YouTube, broke the video sharing site’s record with more than 8-million people watching at one given moment. According to All Things D the previous record was during the London Olympics when 500 000 people tuned in to watch the games.

The 43-year-old also broke the sound barrier during his jump, achieving a reported vertical velocity of 833.9 miles per hour (Mach 1.24).

It took Baumgartner 10 minutes to touch down on the surface of New Mexico and only the last few thousand feet required the parachute.

Interestingly enough none of the new records set by Baumgartner will be classified as “official” yet until approved by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), reports the BBC.

If you missed it, below is the historic jump.

You can also watch the jump in LEGO because some geeks just couldn’t help themselves.