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Science

Man Who Jumped From ‘Edge of Space’ Describes What It Felt Like

Oct. 25, 2012 5:51pm Liz Klimas

Felix Baumgartner, the man who trained for five years and nearly two weeks ago made his 24-mile high leap from a balloon in the stratosphere to break several records, was recently on Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about how it felt — physically.

At his fastest, Baumgartner was falling at mach 1.24 — faster than the speed of sound — at 833 miles per hour. To Cooper, Baumgartner said, “You feel you are fast because you accelerate so fast, but you do not feel that you are traveling 830 miles an hour. You do not feel that you travel supersonic speed.”

Felix Baumgartner Tells Anderson Cooper 360 He Didnt Feel Anything When He Broke the Speed of Sound

This image provided by Red Bull Stratos shows pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria as he jumps out of the capsule. (Photo: AP/Red Bull Stratos)

Baumgartner explained that he was told by experts he would experience a shockwave at this speed. He says he never felt it. He also didn’t hear the supersonic boom that he created with his own mass, because it happened behind him.

“Until I opened my parachute, I did not know I had broken the speed of sound at all,” he said, explaining it wasn’t until he was on the ground and people told him that his record had been clenched.

The Austrian skydiver met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters on October 23. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

And what of Baumgartner’s perfect landing? Although he says he usually doesn’t worry about his landings while he skydives, it was a concern this time “because the whole world was watching.”

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Comments (56)

warbaby
Posted on October 26, 2012 at 8:41am
Being deathly afraid of heights I appreciated seeing this. I prayed for him the whole time.

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Free2speakRN
Posted on October 26, 2012 at 3:18am
Aw, I did that lots of times when I was a kid. I just never told anybody. I hated the publicity, the women hanging all over me, the ticket parades, the money from the endorsements. Too much, too much.

I also woke up as I was falling out of bed. Now, ‘That’ was scary!

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- John1-1-5
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 9:49am
  Thanks for the laugh, I needed that
  
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scruffycat
Posted on October 26, 2012 at 3:16am
As far as the supersonic part goes, I wonder if the supersonic speeds are reached early on in the jump when he is still falling through a vacuum, or near vacuum of very very thin air. If that is the case, if he went >700mph while still in the vacuum would that explain the lack of a sonic boom? Could it still be called supersonic if you arent in the atmosphere when you go that fast? Sure it could, he went really fast :)

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Okieflyover
Posted on October 26, 2012 at 2:08am
When you are so high up that you stop ascending because the atmosphere is as thin as the helium in your balloon then you have pushed the true limits.

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ConservaTEA
Posted on October 26, 2012 at 12:55am
These feats are so rare these days. What an accomplishment!!

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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 4:06am
  You’re right. Mostly because everything has already been done before. There aren’t too many big items left anymore and when they happen, like this, they are big news. Evel Knievel did all the crazy stuff in the 70s. Armstrong did the big event in the 60s. There’s really not a lot left to do. Even this Baumgartner just beat the record that was set in the early 1960s. However, this Baumgartner definitely has the right stuff and is every bit as brave as his predecessors. It’s nice to know there are still people like him out there to take on such challenges to inspire others.
  
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sledgehammer44
Posted on October 26, 2012 at 12:43am
I think what he did was amazing but what i thought would be interesting is to use his helium balloon to lift say a satellite and small rocket up that high. then all you would need is a much smaller lift rocket to put the satellite in orbit. Seems to me it would be cheaper than using rocket fuel from the ground all the way up. Or is this not possible?

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- Pouncing Porcupine
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 1:57am
  Earth’s gravity is too strong. That’s why they need to be going so many thousand of MPH to overcome it. President Algae’s windmill rocket will never cut it.
  
  Report this comment
- DZ-015
  Posted on October 27, 2012 at 9:39am
  What you suggest was actually done in 1957. Five four- stage solid fuel rockets were suspended from large balloons launched from Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific, At an altitude of 19 miles they were launched vertically through the balloons to reach a theoretical altitude of 4000 miles, Only two were fully succesful, but the concept was sound. Web search Project Far Side for details.
  
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Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 8:26pm
I would have suffocated in all the fecal matter in my suit. Glad the Government had nothing to do with it.
Red Bull Profits at work!

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jungle J
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:45pm
Most Americans would rather sit with him than with a combat vet American…we are lost.

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- Oneirishman
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 10:01pm
  I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, has someone made a choice in your mind?
  
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- Pouncing Porcupine
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 11:22pm
  @JJ
  WTF? Are you a combat vet? Are you p1$$3d because not everyone is interested in hearing what you have to say? Did you join up for the free college like most of the others? Then in 2003—-OOPS!—-you were bludgeoned with the reality that “hey, being in the army means you might get your @$$ shot off”! Over my lifetime I’ve known a lot of people who are/were in the armed forces. Many combat vets. Some are great people, but the vast majority are vile degenerates whom I wouldn’t let in my home, let alone around my children. Couldn’t care less about “sitting” with them. Get over yourself.
  
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- siquijorisland
  Posted on October 27, 2012 at 10:40pm
  you need to enplane what you mean.
  Yes sports heroes get more attention as do air headed Hollywood types.
  However most combat vets i know are better than the general public will a different more real point of view.
  
  Report this comment
- demsaredumb
  Posted on October 28, 2012 at 2:16pm
  @Pouncing Porcupine
  
  You are a stupid ignorant idiot.
  
  Report this comment
jackact
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:11pm
A truly amazing human being.
I wonder if a 24 mile free fall is something akin to what Obama, Axelrod, Jarret & Soros are now experiencing?
:)

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- jungle J
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:42pm
  Not even close to a Marine on ambush duty…now that is amazing.
  
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- WATER-THE-TREE
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 8:33pm
  I believe that they (Obama, Axelrod, Jarret & Soros) will break this man’s record, way to fast for theie chutes to open without shredding.
  
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summersmom
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:10pm
I think he is awesome! And oh so brave!

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Baja
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:06pm
Austria has Felix Baumgartner and we have wusses like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Michael Moore, Matt Damon, and Colin Powell.

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- godlovinmom
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:13pm
  But they can play the part in the movie…silly!
  
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- jungle J
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:43pm
  We have the USMC are you dumb?
  
  Report this comment
- beatobama
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:52pm
  He speaks English very well considering that his native language is “Austrian” (LOL Obama)!
  
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jackact
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:06pm
A truly amazing human being.
I wonder if the feeling of a 24 mile free-fall is something akin to what Obama, Axelrod, Jarrett & Soros are now experiencing?
:)

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gs425
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:03pm
Is it at this time that we realize that an energy drink company has a better space program than we do?

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- summersmom
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:10pm
  Scary true!
  
  Report this comment
- Halloween
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 11:46pm
  It’s called “Private Industry.” Did you really think government knows better?
  
  Report this comment
Eastinfection
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:03pm
I bet it felt just like biting into a “York Peppermint Patty”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daQT_Y_gsUg

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Fatheroftwo
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:00pm
I’d like to know at what altitude he passed through the sound barrier. The reason he didn’t feel the concussion may be because the higher you are the less atmosphere there is. The speed of sound is different in a vacuum than in air.

This man is braver than I am in my dreams!!!

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- ScottG-CO
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:35pm
  There is no “speed of sound” in a vacuum!
  
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- Fatheroftwo
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 8:32pm
  True in and of itself, for to hear a sound requires air and yet the frequencies of sound can be transmitted in a vacuum. If this were not true then modern communications would not work!!!
  
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- single stack
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 6:20am
  He never left the atmosphere. He wasn’t in a vacuum. At 1128,000 feet the atmosphere is a tiny fraction of what it is at sea level, but there is still air. If it was a vacuum the balloon wouldn’t float.
  
  Modern communications is by radio, not sound. That’s why it works in a vacuum.
  
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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:32pm
Cool, like, it felt like I was falling for the longest time.

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- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 7:07pm
  4…3…2…1… Earth Below US…. Drifting… Falling…
  
  http://www.80svideos.tv/play.php?vid=160
  
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garylee123
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:28pm
Cajones grandes!!! Whatta ride.

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HYPNOTOAD
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:24pm
Yawwwn. This was done around 1960 at a slightly lower altitude and none of the fan fair.

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- FightForTruthNotEgo
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:47pm
  So? It’s still totally amazing.
  
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- Thornyrose13
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:53pm
  This was higher, and it was privately funded. It’s the spirt we need if we are to survive as a species; to always reach for more, to do that which hasn’t been done, or to do it better if it has been. Things like this are the only thing that gives me hope for our species.
  
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- SMOOSE
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:53pm
  It was done in 1960 at a LOWER altitude.
  
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- single stack
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 6:32am
  On August 16, 1960 Joe Kittinger jumped from an altitude of 102,800 feet and reached a maximum speed of 614 mph.
  Kittinger also made the first solo Atlantic crossing in a gas balloon September 14-18, 1984.
  
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Stevsea
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:21pm
What a champion. Good for you Felix.

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762x51
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:17pm
“And what of Baumgartner’s perfect landing? Although he says he usually doesn’t worry about his landings while he skydives, it was a concern this time “because the whole world was watching.””

It seems to me that LANDING is the whole point, I would worry about it every time. It’s not the fall that kills you, its that sudden stop if you screw up the landing.

My son fell 10′ off a ladder and was laid up for 3 months, had to have surgery, casts, etc.

This guy is nuts but has some major stones.

What ever happened to the capsule? What goes up must come down.

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- Pouncing Porcupine
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 12:45am
  Your son obviously had no business being on a ladder, and evidently you have never heard of the google.
  
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- single stack
  Posted on October 26, 2012 at 6:38am
  I think he meant he was concerned with how the landing looked. It isn’t unusual for a skydiver to roll when he hits the ground but Baumgartner landed on his feet, took two steps, and stopped.
  
  The capsule was separated from the balloon by remote control and descended under a parachute. The balloon disintegrated in the upper atmosphere.
  
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Blacktooth
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:08pm
This was a fantastic achievement. I watched the Red Bull Live coverage of the launch through the jump and landing. Felix is a brave man!

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coyote1hell
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:06pm
This is what freedom is all about, don’t let Buh’rack take that away…he wants to…

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godlovinmom
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:04pm
Watched this guy in an interview…seems like he likes what he does…but honestly isn’t life tough enough…then you go free jump from outer space..no thanks!

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Wool-Free Vision
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:03pm
“You know that feeling you get when you’re leaning back on the back legs of a chair, and you almost tip over, but then you catch yourself just at the last split-second? I feel that way all the time.” – Steven Wright

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- godlovinmom
  Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:13pm
  personally I don’t like that feeling..lol
  
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- mtman2
  Posted on October 28, 2012 at 12:29pm
  Great handle, gotta hand it to ya. It should get some peoples attention{except those w/to much “wool” to see}. “Sheepdog” would also be a good one; unless U-R a mtman. UR cut out of “UR part” of the U.S. flag as a “picture” of one of the patriots that make up the Republic’s representation in the Stars+Stripes=WE the PEOPLE, very thoughtful + nice. Puts a picture + a chuckle in the reality of the truth of our times…Thanks!
  
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afellowpatriot
Posted on October 25, 2012 at 6:01pm
Whew!

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