After ballooning 128,100 feet above sea level, Austrian Felix Baumgartner jumped into a four-minute-long freefall. The skydiver reached speeds of 843.6 mph, or Mach 1.25. It was the fall of 2012, and the world was watching. I was 26 years old. When a reel of Baumgartner’s leap from the stratosphere crossed my feed today, I realized I had completely forgotten about the Red Bull Stratos feat. Next, I thought, surely this was just a couple of years ago. But, no: It’s been almost 13.
Jumping from the edge of space
Baumgartner’s goal was to be the first human to break the sound barrier outside of an aircraft. To conquer the challenge, he wore a pressurized suit specially crafted by the Red Bull Stratos team that could protect him from positively fatal environmental conditions.
In general, atmospheric temperature drops 3.6 degrees for every 1,000 feet upward. It levels off, though. At 128,000 feet, Baumgartner’s jump height, the temp was probably around -100 degrees Fahrenheit…close to that of outer space.
Moreover, as you can imagine, the air is incredibly thin and lacks pressure. As such, once his helium-powered balloon reached the mark and Baumgartner poised to exit his craft, he had to be extremely careful not to rotate. Even a slight pivot could cause uncontrollable spinning. Unfortunately, even with his best effort at avoiding the spins, it didn’t go as smoothly as he and the Red Bull Stratos team had hoped.
34 seconds in, Baumgartner broke the sound barrier
The expert skydiver fulfilled the main mission. The ground crew hears the “boom” loud and clear: He broke sound. Soon after, though, trouble hit.
Certain scientists working with Red Bull Stratos had warned of the rotation risks, while others felt nothing of the sort would happen. “I was mentally prepared to spin, but I was hoping that I’m not gonna spin,” he said in a 2022 recap.
A few seconds after breaking the sound barrier, Baumgartner started to twirl.
“The problem is, there’s no protocol.”
The revolutions got faster and faster. Baumgartner explained that at launch, there wasn’t any tried-and-tested strategy spelled out for him in case of spinning.
“I was trying to move my arms around a little bit,” he said, “Just, maybe it does something…and then it stopped for a second.” But then, he started rotating in the opposite direction. “Then it really ramps up.”
“It’s not about breaking records anymore; at that moment, it’s all about survival.”
Just for context, a main concern with free-falling while spinning at such speed and force is the pressure one might suffer internally, particularly to one’s face. As blood rushes and collects in the skull, Baumgardner recounted, there’s only one way for it to escape: out of your eyeballs. “If that happens, you’re gonna die.”
Fortunately, the skydiver had a special chute in his pack designed to correct rotation if it got totally out of control. He pulled it. After working the chute, he stabilized.
As the minutes passed, the sky turned from black to blue. His special suit depressurized as altitude decreased. Eventually, it’s time to open his main landing chute. He soon sees a teammate light a flare, directing him exactly where to land.
Baumgartner spent hours breathing the suit’s oxygen supply, so was thrilled to open his helmet and catch some fresh air during his final descent.
He landed flat on his feet, and immediately fell to his knees, raising his arms in emotional triumph.
Quite a trip for a Monday afternoon.
