Mach Man!

I was just going to update my earlier observations but what happened today is truly worthy of a post of it's own. Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian daredevil, rolled back the portal hatch cover, disconnected his custom space suit from external supplies, stepped off the stoop of his specially constructed capsule, at a height of over 24 miles in height, and fell into aeronautics history.

  Baumgartner, within minutes reached 833.9 miles per hour, or Mach 1.24, putting him solidly into the history books.

  Baumgartner broke altitude and speed records set half a century ago by Joe Kittinger, now 84, a retired Air Force colonel. Curiously, Baumgartner, early into the jump, experienced the same problem that had nearly killed Mr. Kittinger a half-century earlier. Early in the jump when he began spinning out of control in the thin air of the stratosphere, but as the atmosphere thickened, Baumgartner managed to stop the spin and open his cute at 5 thousand feet and continue to a soft landing, under full control.

For more about the jump and Felix and this incredible sky dive, you can go to the

New York Times here

The Wiki info on Joe Kittinger here

And Baumgartner's Red Bull Stratos jump here