Felix Baumgartner says skydive from Space was like hell
Felix Baumgartner has revealed that his record-breaking skydive to break the sound barrier was “like hell” and “terrifying”.
“When I was spinning the first 10, 20 seconds, I never thought I was going to lose my life but I was disappointed because I’m going to lose my record. I put seven years of my life into this,” he said.
“In that situation, when you spin around, it’s like hell and you don’t know if you can get out of that spin or not. Of course it was terrifying. I was fighting all the way down because I knew that there must be a moment where I can handle it.”
The former military parachutist rose in a purpose-built capsule beneath a giant helium balloon to a height of more than 128,000ft – almost four times the height of a cruising passenger airliner.
After a salute to the millions watching around the world, Baumgartner jumped from the capsule and plummeted toward earth, reaching a speed of 833mph – or Mach 1.24 – faster than the speed of sound, according to his spokesman.
Shortly before leaping, 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.”
After a perfect start, anxious viewers around the world looked on in agony as the Austrian started tumbling chaotically for what seemed like an eternity before finally achieving the correct position.
“The exit was perfect, then I started tumbling – I thought I’d get it under control, but then it really started. I really picked up speed, it got very violent. I thought for a few seconds I’ll fall unconscious.”
“Thank goodness, I managed to stop – it was very difficult. It was much more difficult than many of us expected.”
Baumgartner said he wasn’t even aware of breaking the sound barrier.
“I didn’t feel the sonic boom, I think it happens behind you,” he said.
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.
He had been due to jump from 120,000 feet, but the balloon went higher than expected.
“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data,” he said after the jump. “The only thing you want is to come back alive.”
