Skydiver aims for record in free fall over New Mexico

ROSWELL, N.M. - Experienced skydiver and extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner hopes to take the leap of his life Tuesday, attempting the highest, fastest free fall in history.

If he survives, the man dubbed "Fearless Felix" could be the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.

The 43-year-old former military parachutist from Austria is scheduled to jump from a balloon-hoisted capsule 23 miles above Roswell on Tuesday morning. He wants to break the record set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, who jumped from an open gondola at an altitude of 19.5 miles. Kittinger's speed of 614 m.p.h. was just shy of breaking the sound barrier at that height.

Baumgartner, who has been preparing for the jump for five years, has made two practice runs from the Roswell area, from 15 miles high in March and 18 miles in July.

And while he and his team of experts recognize the worst-case scenarios - including "boiling" blood and exploding lungs - they have confidence in their built-in solutions. Those solutions are something NASA is watching closely. The space agency is interested in the potential for escape systems on future rocket ships.

Baumgartner's top medical man is Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon whose wife, astronaut Laurel Clark, died in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Clark is dedicated to improving astronauts chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster.

The No. 1 fear is a breach of Baumgartner's suit, which could cause potentially lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids, a condition known as boiling blood. There are also risks he could spin out of control, causing other problems.

This death-defying venture is being sponsored by energy-drink maker Red Bull, which has funded other extreme athletic events. The project's team of experts has a plan for almost every contingency. The spacesuit and capsule were tested in the early skydiving practice runs. The company won't say how much the project, called Stratos for stratosphere, is costing.

The organizers say there are about 30 video and still cameras to record the jump, including five attached to Baumgartner's pressure suit, along with cameras from the capsule, on the ground and a helicopter.

Red Bull has been promoting a live Internet stream of the event at http://www.redbullstratos.com/live, from all cameras except those on Baumgartner's body. Organizers said there will be a 20-second delay in their broadcast of footage in case of a tragic accident.

But whether Baumgartner can make the jump depends on the weather. Winds from a cold front already delayed him by a day.

Baumgartner, who has made more than 2,500 jumps from planes, helicopters, landmarks, and skyscrapers over the last 25 years, promises this jump will be his last. He says he plans to settle down with his girlfriend and fly helicopters on mountain rescue and firefighting missions in the United States and Austria.