Trivia

Professional jumper.

His idol is USAF Colonel Joseph William Kittinger.

Started skydiving at age 16.

He is a prominent advocate for the nonprofit Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation.

Felix has been nominated for a World Sports Award and two categories in the NEA Extreme Sports Awards.

In 1988, he began performing skydiving exhibitions for Red Bull.

On March 15, 2012 Baumgartner completed the first of two test jumps from 71,581 feet (21,818 m).

Joseph Kittinger, who holds the records Baumgartner is attempting to break, was advising Baumgartner during the "Stratos" mission in the hopes of getting scientific data on next-generation full pressure suits.

Baumgartner is working with a team of scientists and sponsor Red Bull to attempt the highest sky-dive on record and the first to, with his body, break the sound barrier.

On December 12, 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck, then went to the 90th floor (about 390 m (1,280 ft)) of the then tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan.

He was the first person to sky dive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on August 18, 2006.

He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004.

Baumgartner set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

On July 31. 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made carbon fiber wing.

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

On July 25, 2012, Baumgartner made a test jump of 18-miles down to Earth in preparation for his 22-mile sky dive, where he hopes to become the first person to break the speed of sound and achieve Mach 1 in free-fall.