'Fearless Felix' breaks the sound barrier

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Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner celebrated his unprecedented feat on Monday after becoming the first man to break the sound barrier in a record-shattering, death-defying free-fall jump from the edge of space.

The 43-year-old leaped from a capsule that was over 39 kilometers above the planet Earth on Sunday, reaching a top speed of over one-thousand kilometers per hour, or 1.24 times the speed of sound, according to organizers.

The veteran skydiver was in free fall for four minutes and 20 seconds before opening his parachute and floating down to the desert in the US state of New Mexico, said Brian Utley, record keeper for the jump.

Mission control erupted in cheers when they saw Baumgartner spring from the capsule that was hoisted aloft by a giant helium-filled balloon to an altitude of 39,044 meters, even higher than expected.

"I think 20 tons have fallen from my shoulders. I prepared for this for seven years," he told German-language Servus TV in Austria in his first interview after the leap.

Referring to a helmet problem that nearly forced him to abort at the last minute, Baumgartner said: "Even on a day like this when you start so well, then there's a little glitch. But I finally decided to jump.

"It was the right decision," added the Austrian, who broke three records: The highest free-fall jump, the fastest free-fall speed and the highest balloon flight by a human. He failed to make the longest free-fall jump.

Shortly before leaping, in footage beamed live around the world on a crackly radio link recalling Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon, he said: "Sometimes you have (to go) up really high to (understand) how small you are."

About the broadcaster:

CJ Henderson is a foreign expert for China Daily's online culture department. CJ is a graduate of the University of Sydney where she completed a Bachelors degree in Media and Communications, Government and International Relations, and American Studies. CJ has four years of experience working across media platforms, including work for 21st Century Newspapers in Beijing, and a variety of media in Australia and the US.