Felix Baumgartner 'breaks' sound in his freefall

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner became the first man to break the sound barrier in a record-shattering, death-defying freefall jump from the edge of space. In the pic, where it all must have started, he is seen practicing for the amazing feat. (All AFP Photos and text)

The 43-year-old leapt from a capsule more than 24 miles (39 kilometers) above the Earth, reaching a top speed of 833.9 miles per hour, or 1.24 times the speed of sound, according to organizers. This was his stance just before the jump.

He might be a professional skydiver but the feat is something extraordinary. Even he himself agreed and said: "I think 20 tons have fallen from my shoulders. I prepared for this for seven years."

Shortly before jumping, in footage beamed live around the world -- on a crackly radio link recalling Neil Armstrong's first words on the Moon -- he had said: "Sometimes you have (to go) up really high to (understand) how small you are."

The Austrian took more than two hours to get up to the jump altitude. Baumgartner had already broken one record before he even leapt: the previous highest altitude for a manned balloon flight was 113,740 feet, set in 1961.

The veteran skydiver was in freefall for four minutes and 20 seconds before opening his red and white parachute and floating down to the desert in the US state of New Mexico, said Red Bull Stratos mission record keeper Brian Utley.

The biggest risk Baumgartner faced was spinning out of control, which could have exerted excessive G-force and made him lose consciousness. A controlled dive from the capsule was essential, putting him in a head-down position to increase speed.

Later, he recalled the emotions sweeping through his body when he stepped out of the capsule at an altitude of 128,100 ft (39,045 meters) over the New Mexico desert.

"When you're standing there on top of the world you become so humble... The only thing is you want to come back alive," he told reporters in Roswell, where the launch mission was based.