Felix Baumgartner

Felix Baumgartner was an Austrian skydiver, extreme sportsman and BASE jumper, born on 20 April 1969 and died on 17 July 2025 in a paragliding accident in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Italy. He is best known for the Red Bull Stratos project, in which he jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landed in New Mexico, United States. That jump set skydiving records from an estimated 39 km, with an estimated top speed of 1,357.64 km/h, or Mach 1.25, making him the first person to break the sound barrier relative to the surface without vehicular power on his descent. His exit altitude record was later broken by Alan Eustace in 2014. Baumgartner was also renowned for the dangerous stunts of his career, and he trained in parachute jumping, including landing on small target zones, during his time in the Austrian military.