The man who wants to fall to Earth

Felix Baumgartner is about to take the mother of all leaps, said David Katz in Men’s Journal. The 41-year-old former paratrooper has been jumping off structures ever since he was a boy, when he used to jump out of trees. For the past decade, he’s been breaking Base jumping records by leaping off structures such as the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and gliding down with a parachute.

But nothing has prepared him for what he hopes to do later this year—jump from the stratosphere from a helium balloon at 120,000 feet, thus breaking the world skydiving record. By falling from that height in very thin air, he may reach speeds of more than 760 mph. “What we want to find out is what happens to the human body when it breaks the speed of sound,’’ he says. “That’s a big question mark.” It’s possible, experts have told him, that he could end up in a spin that detaches his brain from his spine, or that his NASA-style suit could malfunction. “I’m going to a hostile place,” he says. “Right outside you is a vacuum of space, and without the protection of the suit, you cannot live. It’s scary.”

Should he succeed, Baumgartner plans to spend the rest of his days planted on firm ground. “I could Base jump again,” he says, “but what would it mean? Everything would be a step backward.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up