Episode 2999
Felix Baumgartner
Mon, 2025-Jul-21 19:56 UTC
Length - 2:18
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.
With 278,000 views on Friday, 18 July 2025 our article of the day is Felix Baumgartner.
Felix Baumgartner (German: [ˈfeːlɪks ˈbaʊ̯mˌɡaʁtnɐ]; 20 April 1969 – 17 July 2025) was an Austrian skydiver, extreme sportsman, and BASE jumper. He is widely known for jumping to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in New Mexico, United States, as part of the Red Bull Stratos project. By doing so, he set world records for skydiving an estimated 39 km (24 mi), reaching an estimated top speed of 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph), or Mach 1.25. He became the first person to break the sound barrier relative to the surface without vehicular power on his descent. He broke skydiving records for exit altitude (38,969.3 metres), vertical freefall distance without a drogue parachute, and vertical speed without a drogue. Although his name is still attached to the two last records, his exit altitude record was broken two years later, when on 24 October 2014, Alan Eustace jumped from 135,890 feet (41.42 km; 25.74 mi) with a drogue.
Baumgartner was also renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he performed during his career. He spent time in the Austrian military, where he practised parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones. On 17 July 2025, he died in a paragliding accident in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Italy, aged 56.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 19:56 UTC on Monday, 21 July 2025.
For the full current version of the article, see Felix Baumgartner on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm neural Matthew.
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