Skydiver Makes 24 Mile Jump into Rosewell New Mexico

Skydiver Makes 24 Mile Jump into Rosewell New Mexico
October 14.2012
the Staff of the Ridgewood blog

ROSWELL, N.M., Felix Baumgartner landed safely on Earth after a 24-mile jump from the stratosphere in a dramatic free fall that marked the world’s first supersonic skydive. The also marked the 65th anniversary of U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager successful attempt to become the first man to officially break the sound barrier aboard an airplane.

Baumgartner came down in the eastern New Mexico desert near Roswell minutes after jumping from his capsule 128,000 feet, or 24 miles, above Earth , On landing he lifted his arms in victory then knelled in celebration of his historic feat.

The successfully landing was greeting with loud cheers from family , friends and mission control room personal inside the mission’s control center in Roswell, N.M.

It took nearly three hours for Baumgartner, to reach and prepare for the 24 mile jump . He used a pressurized capsule carried by a 55-story ultra-thin helium balloon.

Baumgartner gave the thumbs As he exited the capsule from high above Earth with the entire jump being streamed live on the internet. During his decent Baumgartner reached speeds of somewhere near 690 mph.

Baumgartner’s team included Joe Kittinger, who first attempted to break the sound barrier from 19.5 miles up in 1960, reaching speed of 614 mph. With Kittinger inside mission control Sunday, the two men could be heard going over technical details as the launch began.

This attempt marked the end of a five-year adventure for Baumgartner. A record-setting high-altitude jumper, he already made two preparation jumps in the area; one in March from 15 miles high and on in July from 18 miles high. It also be the end of his extreme altitude jumping career; he has promised this will be his final jump , we sure this will make his wife and family happy.