An Austrian extreme parachutist will become the first person to break the sound barrier by skydiving from an altitude of 36.5 kilometers (22.68 miles) after rising in a hot-air balloon, local media said on Saturday.
Felix Baumgartner, who earlier leapt off the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan's largest city and crossed the English Channel in free fall, intends to set a new world record in a 35-second free fall, being equipped only with a helmet and a costume to protect him from pressure changes, papers said.
Baumgartner, the 40-year-old Salzburg native, believed he would develop a speed of 1,300 km (808 miles) per hour in 30 seconds, media reports said.
"Of course there is general fear, as before every jump," Baumgartner told the German DPA news agency.
"But jumping is my life and all my life I have dreamt of this jump, precisely this jump. Fear is therefore no obstacle, it only ensures that we do this right," he said.
DPA said it would take more than three hours for Baumgartner to rise to his jumping altitude in a large dirigible filled with helium.
Baumgartner was in the focus of media attention in 2003, when he crossed the English Channel in free fall, wearing a 2-meter (6.6-feet) wing on his back. He also made headlines when he jumped off the Taipei skyscraper, the world's then-tallest building, without permission in 2007. The thrill-seeker managed to flee the country before police could arrest him.
Baumgartner intends to break the record set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, who is now an advisor to Baumgartner's team, DPA said. Kittinger, a former command pilot with the US Air Force, then jumped from an altitude of over 31 kilometers (19.3 miles) using a parachute.
VIENNA, January 23 (RIA Novosti)
