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Following months of preparation, a Grove mobile crane was used to launch Felix Baumgartner’s Red Bull Stratos balloon.
Eventually reaching a height of 39,045 metres (128,100 feet) after nearly two and half hours ascent, Baumgartner then leapt into the earth’s atmosphere, falling for four minutes and twenty seconds, and reaching a recorded top speed of 1342.8 kilometres per hour (829.9 mph).
Three world records were broken in the feat: the highest manned balloon flight; first human to pass the speed of sound in freefall (reaching Mach 1.24); and the highest freefall jump, though the records still have to be confirmed by authorities.
The feat should also reveal valuable information to scientists, with the possibility that astronauts in orbital space stations could free fall to the earth’s surface to escape in the case of an emergency.