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Featured era: 2012
Red Bull Stratos
“OK, we're getting serious now, Felix.”
- Featured era
- 2012
- Peak era
- 2012
- Company
- Red Bull / Felix Baumgartner
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- Red Bull
- Added:
- October 14, 2012
- Length:
- 1:30
What Was It?
Red Bull Stratos was a high-altitude skydiving project with Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner. On October 14, 2012, a helium balloon carried him in a capsule about 39 kilometres up into the stratosphere over New Mexico, and he stepped off and fell back to Earth in a pressure suit.
During the fall he reached Mach 1.25, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without engine power. He came through a dangerous spin and a fogging visor, opened his parachute after about four minutes and landed on his feet about nine minutes after leaving the capsule. His mentor Joseph Kittinger, who had set the jump record in 1960, talked him through it from mission control.
The jump was streamed live on YouTube and set a record for the most concurrent viewers of any live stream on the site.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Felix on the capsule ledge above the Earth
- The uncontrolled spin in the first minute
- Landing on his feet, then dropping to his knees
- Arguing over whether it was really the edge of space
The Story
- 2010 New Scientist reported that Baumgartner was preparing a record skydive with Red Bull.
- 2012 On October 14 he jumped from about 39 kilometres and broke the sound barrier.
- 2013 The FAI confirmed that he had broken three of his four planned records.
- 2025 Baumgartner died in a paragliding accident in Italy on July 17.
Its Legacy
The footage remains on Red Bull's YouTube channel. Baumgartner's altitude record was later broken by Alan Eustace, and Baumgartner died in a paragliding accident in Italy in July 2025.
Memories
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