‘Fearless Felix’ Baumgartner, the skydiver who broke the sound barrier

Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian daredevil who stunned the world in 2012 by jumping from the edge of space and breaking the sound barrier, once said he was “born to fly.”

“When you’re standing there on top of the world, you become so humble,” he said after the jump. “You don’t think about breaking records or collecting data — the only thing you want is to come back alive.”

Baumgartner died in a paragliding crash on Thursday. Authorities in Italy confirmed that the extreme athlete, 56, crashed into the side of a swimming pool in the coastal town of Porto Sant’Elpidio, along the Adriatic coast.

Baumgartner earned international renown in October 2012 when he became the first human to break the sound barrier without the aid of a vehicle. Wearing a pressurised suit, he jumped from a capsule lifted by a helium balloon to an altitude of over 39 kilometres above earth, reaching speeds of 1,357.6 km/h during a freefall over the New Mexico desert.

The Red Bull Stratos mission, broadcast live to millions on YouTube, showed Baumgartner giving a calm thumbs-up before exiting the capsule and plunging toward Earth. At one point, he spun uncontrollably for 13 seconds while still supersonic — a moment his team later described as one of the most dangerous phases of the descent. But he recovered and parachuted safely, landing to cheers and widespread acclaim.

His altitude shattered the record set in 1960 by US Air Force Col. Joe Kittinger, who served as an adviser to Baumgartner during the mission. The speed record stood for two years until it was surpassed by Google executive Alan Eustace in 2014.

Born in Salzburg in 1969, Baumgartner’s fascination with flight began in childhood. “I always had the desire to be in the air,” he once said. “I climbed trees, I wanted to see the world from above.” He worked as a car mechanic and repaired motorcycles before joining the Austrian military, where he refined his parachuting skills.

After his first skydive as a teenager in 1986, Baumgartner pursued increasingly daring feats. In 1999, he set a record for the lowest BASE jump, leaping from the 29-metre-high hand of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue. In 2003, he became the first person to fly across the English Channel using carbon-fiber wings.

BASE — an acronym for Buildings, Antennas, Spans, and Earth — became one of his domains of excellence. He set multiple records for the highest jumps from structures and cliffs, and made thousands of jumps from aircraft, skyscrapers, and iconic landmarks.

Baumgartner also held licences as a helicopter pilot and gas balloonist. In recent years, he performed aerobatics with the Flying Bulls team across Europe and was a passionate race car driver, climber, and amateur boxer.

Despite the risks, he rejected the label of thrill-seeker. “I hate it if someone calls me an adrenaline junkie. I like the whole planning,” he once told reporters. “Preparation is everything.”

Though revered for his fearlessness, Baumgartner’s views in later life often drew criticism. He became a vocal opponent of Green parties and climate change policies, publicly mocked LGBTQ rights, and aligned himself with far-right political figures in Austria.

In 2016, he stirred controversy by suggesting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-migration stance.

Despite the backlash, Baumgartner remained unapologetic. He continued to share his opinions freely online, dividing fans but never straying far from the spotlight.

His legacy, however, will forever be linked to the moment he stepped out of a capsule nearly 40km above Earth and fell — faster than the speed of sound — into history.

In a 2022 documentary, Baumgartner reflected on the risks he had taken throughout his life. “I will leave the world with a smile on my face,” he said, “knowing that big dreams always win.”

With his death, the world has lost one of its boldest explorers of the skies — a man whose final act was, fittingly, in flight.