In a society of thrill-seekers, bigger (or longer, or higher, or faster) is always better. Many South Africans revel in the fact that the country is home to the highest bungee jump in the world, it also boasts some of the best skydiving and BASE jumping opportunities available (just ask Jeb). But, there’s always this one guy who takes things to the next level, like jumping from space…

The man in question is Felix Baumgartner, a 42-year old Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper. Yesterday he completed what has only been done once before in history, he successfully jumped from space. The only other man to ever attempt the feat was Joseph William Kittinger II, who in 1960 jumped from a record height of approximately 19  miles (30,6km) above earth. Baumgartner hopes to smash that record when he attempts to jump from 23 miles (37km) up.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, or forget that yesterday’s jump was nothing short of amazing. Using a fully pressurized suit, Baumgartner entered his custom made Red Bull Stratos capsule which took him to a height of 13,6 miles (21,8km). Just as a quick point of reference, that’s almost twice the height at which commercial airliners fly. From there he began his descent, free falling for three minutes and 43 seconds. When you jump at Bloukrans you free fall for about six seconds. He also reached a speed of 586,4 kph!

This was only the beginning however, Baumgartner plans to go even higher. Later this year he hopes to jump from an altitude of 37 kilometres, pretty much right on the edge of the stratosphere. If successful, he will free fall for about five minutes and 30 seconds, breaking the speed of sound in the process. This is all set to happen in summer (our winter) this year, following another test jump at 27,4km.

[Source: The Art Of Manliness, Red Bull Stratos via Gizmodo]