Felix Baumgartner

Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria) is a skydiver and a BASE jumper. He is renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.

Biography

He was born on 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria.

In 1999 he claimed the world record for the highest parachute dive from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

On 31 July 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to cross the English Channel in freefall using a specially made fibre wing.

Baumgartner set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro., Esquire, p. 4, 2010-07-14, accessed 2010-07-14; "he leapt from the outstretched hand of O Cristo Redentor, the ninety-eight-foot-tall statue that looms over Rio de Janeiro. ...the final product was ... a world record — lowest BASE jump ever".

He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004 and the first person to sky dive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on 18 August 2006.

On 12 December 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck, then went to the 90th floor (about...
Read More