Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner, the first human to break the sound barrier with his body during a leap from the stratosphere, is dead at 56.
Baumgartner died Wednesday (July 16) during a paragliding flight in coastal Italy, according to an Associated Press report citing an Italian official.
The paraglider crashed into a swimming pool edge in Porto Sant’Elpidio, AP’s report added; Italian media reports cited by English-language outlets disagree as to the cause, and whether others were injured.
Baumgartner, a long-time skydiver and extreme sports enthusiast, reached world fame on Oct. 14, 2012 after skydiving 128,000 feet (39 km) from a tiny capsule suspended under a high-altitude balloon.
“I know the whole world is watching now, and I wish the world could see what I see,” Baumgartner said in a Red Bull livestream of the event, before stepping out the door of his capsule. “And sometimes you have to go up really high to see how small you really are.”
As he plunged from an altitude three times higher than commercial flight routes, Baumgartner’s body tumbled and spun in the thin air before he righted himself, popped a parachute and landed safely in the New Mexico desert. Baumgartner’s record-breaking flight was superseded in 2014 when Google executive Alan Eustace made his own jump from nearly 136,000 feet (41 km).
Red Bull, who sponsored Baumgartner’s jump, paid tribute to Baumgartner’s life on Instagram after his death. “Felix was ‘born to fly’ and was determined to push the limits,” the post noted, but added he did so judiciously: “He was also smart, professional, thorough and meticulous, never leaving anything to chance.”
Baumgartner was born in Salzburg in 1969, the same year that humans first landed on the moon during Apollo 11. He started skydiving at 16, gaining experience through Austrian military’s demonstration and competition team. He then began performing skydiving exhibitions for Red Bull at age 19, according to his official website.
By 1996, when Baumgartner was about 27, he wanted to start base jumping, or skydiving from towers and similar high objects. He achieved some fame outside of his field in 1999 after leaping from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Baumgartner’s base-jumping teacher, Tracy Lee Walker, “not only taught me how to base jump, but also how to deal with risks, and the importance of very careful and thorough planning,” Baumgartner said in an interview decades later, for his aviation enthusiast group
Baumgartner leaves behind his long-time partner, Mihaela Rădulescu, according to several media reports.
