Felix BaumgartnerThe parachuting that broke the sound barrier in its 24 -thousand dive in 2012, deceased Thursday July 17 at 56, after having crushed his parapentre.
The accident occurred in the Italian city of Porto Sant’ELpidio, located along the eastern coast of the country. The firefighters sent to the premises confirmed that the parapentre had crashed on the side of a swimming pool.
“Our community is deeply affected by the tragic death of Felix Baumgartner, a figure in global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme theft,” said the mayor of Porto Sant’elpidio Massimiliano Ciarpella said in a statement Shared via social media.
The mayor’s office believes that Baumgartner has undergone a “medical problem” and lost control of the motorized paraglider, which led to the accident.
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Baumgartner, nicknamed “Fearless Felix”, was best known for his dive in 2012 through the stratosphere as part of the Red Bull Stratos team, in which he reached 843.6 miles per hour, about 1.25 times the speed of sound. The feat took about nine minutes and included a potentially dangerous flat rotation which lasted 13 seconds when it was still supersonic.
About eight million people looked at the jump, which was broadcast live on YouTube. Red Bull then made a documentary on the cascade using images that Baumgartner recorded on a used camera.
“When I stood there at the top of the world, you become so humble, you no longer think of beating recordings, you do not think of obtaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive,” he said after landing in new-mexic.
In addition to breaking the sound barrier, it was the highest jump of all time, breaking the record set by Joseph Kittinger In 1960 of almost five miles. Kittinger, who died in 2022 at 94, was an advisor to Baumgartner during her preparation.
“Sometimes we have to be very high to see how small we are,” added Baumgartner.
Computer scientist Alan Eustace broke Baumgartner’s altitude record two years later, although it still holds the vertical speed record.
Baumgartner’s career as a basic rider and Daredevil dates back to the 1990s. In 1999, he established the world record For the highest parachute, jump from a building when he jumped from Petronas towers to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The same year, he set the world record for the lowest basic jump, jumping from the hand of the statue of Christ The Redeemer of Rio de Janeiro, 98 feet from the ground. Four years later, he became the first person in Skydive through the Channel.
Baumgartner never married But had been in a relationship with the Romanian television host Mihaela Rădulecu Since 2014.
