A New World Record!

Mission Accomplished!

Felix Baumgartner has done it! From the New York Times:

[He] fell to Earth from more than 24 miles high Sunday, becoming the first human to break the sound barrier under his own power — with some help from gravity ....

[The] Austrian daredevil, made the highest and fastest jump in history after ascending by a helium balloon to an altitude of 128,100 feet. As millions around the world experienced the vertiginous view from his capsule’s camera, which showed a round blue world surrounded by the black of space, he stepped off into the void and plummeted for more than four minutes, reaching a maximum speed measured at 833.9 miles per hour, or Mach 1.24.

He broke altitude and speed records set half a century ago by Joe Kittinger, now 84, a retired Air Force colonel whose reassuring voice from mission control guided Mr. Baumgartner through tense moments ...

The BBC reports he also broke a social media record (cleverly burying the lead):

More than eight million people flocked to their devices to watch the 43-year-old break the speed of sound live on Google's YouTube site.

It is the largest number of concurrent live streams in the website's history, Google UK confirmed to the BBC.

Mr. Baumgartner also broke the record for the highest freefall.

Going back to those "tense moments," it is interesting to note how 'Fearless Felix' dealt with a bout of crippling fear that almost led to the mission being aborted (HT: Bill). From CNN:

[The mission] revealed a fear Baumgartner hadn't felt before. And it had nothing to do with coming down from such a height, but suiting up to reach it.

To prevent a potentially fatal condition called ebullism, Baumgartner must wear a custom-made space suit and helmet. Although the suit, based on those worn by high-altitude reconnaissance pilots, is designed to maximize maneuverability and visibility, it constricts his movement and vision. He'd never worn a pressurized space suit before, and he felt the claustrophobia — which, according to a New York Times account, was so severe it brought on panic attacks — threatened to bring the mission to a screeching halt.

That's when [Dr. Michael] Gervais stepped in [a sports psychologist who specializes in high-performance and extreme sports]. After determining that Baumgartner was entirely committed to making the jump and not using claustrophobia as an excuse to back out, he set to work ...

Over the course of three days, Gervais determined Baumgartner didn't have quite the right tools to manage his mind and emotions in the face of so great a risk. That's where the suit became an issue: It was a symbol of his not having complete control of the situation. To combat this, Gervais said, Baumgartner had to reconnect with his vision. He'd become too focused on the suit, not the goal he hoped to reach wearing it.

To reconnect with his vision, Baumgartner needed to reconnect to what Gervais called his hidden journey — what the jump meant to him, beyond being the first person to skydive from so great a height, or being the first person to exceed the speed of sound (about 700 mph at that altitude) in free fall. The hidden journey, he said, is much more basic: Baumgartner wants to go somewhere no one has ever been. Gervais taught Baumgartner how to better manage his mind and body under pressure. Baumgartner mastered something Gervais called "combat breathing," or deep breathing, to calm himself. And he developed positive self-talk, using great care in choosing the words he used when talking to himself and others about the jump.

"Self-talk is considered one of the most powerful mental skills," Gervais said. "Self talk is the foundation for self-confidence and self-esteem."

Fascinating stuff. All of this reinforces something we were always told in the Airborne Rangers: Your body can do 10 times what your mind thinks it can.

Seeing as how my mind knows my body can jump from 14,000 feet, maybe someday I'll break Baumgartner's record?