Published on October 14, 2012
W.J. Hennigan, LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-free-fall-jump-new-mexico-20121014,0,3124991.story
A forty-three year old man named Felix Baumgartner jumped from a capsule hanging 120,000 feet above the Earth, breaking a world record of fifty-two years. Four minutes after his jump, he opened up his parachutes, and fifteen minutes after that he landed on the grounds of New Mexico. In 1960, an Air Force test pilot named Joe Kittinger broke the free-fall record by jumping off 102,800 feet. Baumgartner broke this record. His jump was not quite set for breaking the world record, though. It was set to test the equipment he was wearing in order to find the weight it holds for people. He was wearing a newly designed outfit which included the suit and the helmet. He was able to jump off at such a great length, meaning that the outfit was well enough to hold him through. It must have been a massive challenge for Baumgartner, because at any given point of time, the suit's strength could have failed to hold him together. He could have been hurt but then again one only lives once and must do challenges without regret. This was definitely a scary, yet adventurous challenge for Baumgartner and I am happy he got a world record for it and is now popular throughout the media.
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