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From a abridgment suspend 23 miles ( 36.6 kilometers ) above Roswell , N.M. , madcap Felix Baumgartner will sky dive in an endeavor to mark a new height record .
Baumgartner will first uprise to an height of 120,000 feet ( 36,000 meters ) in a six - foot diameter ( 1.8 metre ) pressurise capsule suspended from a high - altitude balloon .
The daredevil’s jump from 120,000 feet altitude requires the use of a space suit due to the low temperature and thin air.
Once at the right altitude , Baumgartner steps from the capsule and begins to fall . Within about 40 indorsement he accelerates enough to break the sound barrier , which has never been done by a destitute - downslope skydiver .
In 1960 , United States Air Force Col . Joseph Kittinger made a interchangeable jump from the lower altitude of 102,800 feet ( 31,000 meters ) .
General Electric offer in the 1960s that an astronaut stranded in Earth sphere might survive a torrid income tax return through the atmosphere with nothing but a space suit and a personal oestrus shield shell pack with froth insulation . BothNASAand the U.S. Air Force refuse to try the applied science .
While Baumgartner ’s leap is from a record - setting height , it is only a fraction of the distance to orbital height . TheInternational Space Stationfor example orb at an EL of 250 miles ( 400 kilometer ) .
As Baumgartner descends he come in thick air . His speed slows but he risks going into a deadly whirl so violent that he could turn a loss consciousness .
After free - falling for about five and a one-half minutes , Baumgartner deploys his chute at an ALT of 5,000 feet .
