Felix Baumgartner
Red Bull Stratos via AP
An image from Oct. 14, 2012, shows pilot Felix Baumgartner as he jumps out of the capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos. According to the official numbers released on Monday, the Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound. His top speed initially was estimated at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.
updated 2/4/2013 11:08:11 PM ET 2013-02-05T04:08:11


The Austrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph (1,357.6 kilometers per hour), according to official numbers released Monday. That's equivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound.

His top speed initially was estimated at 10 mph slower at 834 mph (1,342.2 kilometers per hour), or Mach 1.24.




The leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet (38,969 meters). That's 248 feet (75.6 meters) lower than original estimates, but still stratospheric.



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He reached peak speed by the time he was at 91,300 feet (27,828 meters), 50 seconds into the jump, and was back to subsonic by 75,300 feet (22,951 meters), give or take, 64 seconds into his free fall.

His entire free fall lasted four minutes, 20 seconds. He used a parachute to cover the final 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), landing on his feet in the desert outside Roswell.

Not everything went well.



More parachute tests needed

Some 52 million people watched YouTube's live stream of the exploit.


Baumgartner shattered the previous record set by Joe Kittinger, an Air Force officer, in 1960. Kittinger did not quite reach supersonic speed during his jump from 19.5 miles (31.4 kilometers) up.







More about the supersonic skydive:


Video: Fearless Felix jumps from edge of space

  1. Closed captioning of: Fearless Felix jumps from edge of space

    >>> suspenseful and awe-inspiring tv spectacle. one man's daredevil leap from a capsule from 22 miles above the earth. part marketing stunt or not. adventure felix baumgartner pushed the boundaries of human endurnance at almost 800 miles an hour. nbc's tom costello monitored the mission. he joins us from washington with more.

    >> the team says that felix baumgartner broke the record for the highest jump ever, the highest free fall and he broke the sound barrier at mach 1 .

    >> felix disconnect the oxygen hose.

    >> reporter: there he was at 128,000 feet, standing quite literally on the edge of space, preparing to do what no one had done before, with his mom watching from mission control , 43-year-old felix baumgartner offered a few words most most part to understood. then he was gone, beginning a terrifying supersonic dive from 24 miles up. a white dot as he quickly passed 700 miles an hour.

    >> speed 720 miles an hour.

    >> reporter: the scene began well before sun rise as they prepared felix. baumgartner is no novice he's made harrowing dumps before from 15 and 18 miles up. but today was about breaking a free fall record that has stood since 1960 . the former austrian military paratrooper faced instant death. he told jay leno that fear is healthy. this morning after a brief burst of wind, baumgartner 's balloon got the green light . and 2 1/2 hours later, he was standing where no man had stood before.

    >> and our guahe shot out like a bullet. exceeding the speed of sound , and then with a face mask fogging up, what looked like a terrifying out of control flat spin before he stabilized. finally 4 1/2 minutes later, baumgartner pulled his chute and floated to a landing in the new mexico desert.

    >> you're out there, you do not want to die in front of your parents, your girlfriend.

    >> reporter: it was ex extraordinary. nasa feels that there could be amount to be learned and the techniques that could be used on future nasa space missions .

    >> what happened to the capsule?

    >> it also came down via parachute in the new mexican desert and we're told it's


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