My sky high moment
FELIX Baumgartner stood poised in the open hatch of a capsule suspended above Earth, wondering if he would make it back alive.
And 38km below him, millions of people were watching on the internet and marvelling at the moment.
A second later, he stepped off and barrelled towards a US desert as a white speck against a dark sky.
The Austrian- born Baumgartner shattered the sound barrier and landed safely about nine minutes later, becoming the world’s first supersonic skydiver.
‘‘When I was stand- ing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records any more, you do not think about gaining scientific data,’’ Baumgartner said after Monday’s jump.
‘‘The only thing you want is to come back alive.’’
The jump was part scientific wonder, part reality show, with the live- streamed event capturing the world’s attention.
The event happened without a network broadcast in the United States, though organisers said more than 40 television stations in 50 countries — including cable’s Discovery Channel in the US — carried the live feed. Instead, people flocked online, with more than eight million simultaneous views of a YouTube live stream at its peak, YouTube officials said.
More than 130 digital outlets carried the feed, organisers said.
The feat came during a lull in human space exploration.
The 4 3 - year - old Baumgartner hit Mach 1.24, or 1341.97km/ h, according to preliminary data, and became the first person to go faster than the speed of sound without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft.