On Sunday, Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier, and set world records as he jumped from outer space to the Earth below. The event was the result of five years of preparation, and Baumgartner now holds the records for highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet), longest distance freefall (119,846 feet), and maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph, Mach 1.24).
Watch this:
The whole thing was livestreamed on YouTube.
“At peak, you were watching more than 8 million concurrent livestreams of this mission, which intended to break 50-year old records of human limits and break new ground in medical and scientific research,” says YouTube Sports Partnerships Manager Tim Katz.
Here’s a bit more background on the jump from YouTube’s blog:
The 120,000 foot jump over Roswell, New Mexico is the culmination of over five years of work by Felix and the Red Bull Stratos mission team, who are now prepared to break the 102,800 ft record set by US Air Force legend, Col. Joe Kittinger 52 years ago. After rising in a capsule propelled by 30 million cubic feet of helium, Felix will jump from 23 miles above Roswell, New Mexico. You’ll see a live data feed that will show exactly where Felix is in the sky, his rate of speed during the freefall, and how high above earth he is throughout the entire flight. You’ll also be able to hear Felix’s conversations with Col. Kittinger who will be the only voice from Mission Control advising Felix.
Luckily, the whole thing was reenacted with LEGOs (h/t: The Daily What). Here’s that: