Man Jumps from 71,580 feet (21,818 m)
On March 15th, 2012, Austrian Felix Baumgartner jumped from a space capsule at an altitude of appxoaimtely 21,818 meters - as a part of the Red Bull Stratos project. Baumgartner rode a 42-year-old space capsule attached to a giant helium balloon.
“The goal of this expedition towards the edge of space was to fly over the so-called “Armstrong Line” and to do tests under real conditions for the first time. That is the area in aerospace where earthly boundaries and laws disappear. It is an inhospitable region for humans where liquids begin to vaporize and temperatures plunge to minus 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Humans could not survive in this zone without a spacesuit to protect them from the forces of depressurization and lack of oxygen. To get there, Baumgartner first had to make it through another “death zone” closer to earth. During the first 1,000 feet of his ascent there would be no chance of escape in the event of a crash because there would be no time to get out of the capsule or open the parachute.”
