Space Jumper Felix Baumgartner Next Record-Breaking Skydive Attempt Set

On Tuesday this week, Felix Baumgartner was just minutes away from his attempt to break U.S. Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger’s record for a freefall skydive from the edge of space when disaster struck. Now, the Austrian daredevil will get another chance to make history this Sunday when the Red Bull Stratos balloon will carry him to over 36,000 meters (120,000 feet) where he will jump and freefall to the Earth.

The last attempt to break Kittinger’s 52-year old record had to be scrapped due to some gusty wind conditions at the top of the over 700ft tall balloon. Kittinger himself is actually working as an advisor on the project. The strong winds of about 25mph became a concern not long after Baumgartner had climbed into the space capsule attached to the massive helium filled balloon.

“As we inflated the balloon and got Felix into the capsule at about 11:42 a.m., we experienced a gust of wind that took us above 40 km/h (25mph) at the peak of the balloon,” said Red Bull Stratos Project Director Art Thompson, adding the gust had dangerously twisted the balloon in a way that could have damaged the delicate polyethylene material. “The integrity of the balloon at that point is really unknown and unacceptable to use for manned flight because we were not sure what would happen as we launch. Our biggest problem was the wind at the 230 meters level.” Wind speeds cannot exceed 5km/h (3 mph) or there is a chance the envelope could tear when the support team tries to release it. “We knew that we only had a small window today which we finally did not hit” added Thompson.

The team has rescheduled the next attempt for this coming Sunday October 14th. After 5 years of training for the mission, another week should not be too painful for Baumgartner to wait out.

“When Art told me we were aborting the mission I thought it was a joke,” said Baumgartner. “I thought there is no way, that the conditions were not right. I couldn’t tell what was happening with the balloon because I was in the capsule. I want this to happen this year. We’ve made it so far. There’s no turning back. We’re here, we’ve got the helium and we’re good to go. Whether that’s tomorrow or the first day next week, I don’t really care.”