First Person to Break the Sound Barrier in Freefall

On October 14, 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon 38,969 meters above Roswell, New Mexico, reaching a top freefall speed of 1,357.6 km/h and becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power. The jump, part of the Red Bull Stratos project, also set records at the time for highest freefall parachute jump and highest manned balloon flight. Google executive Alan Eustace broke the altitude record two years later, but Baumgartner still holds the sound-barrier and freefall-speed records.