Los Angeles: An Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner has finally broken the record of breaking the sound barrier in freefall jump after he dived from the space.
The successful diver covered up to 23 miles (37 kilometers) in nearly 10 minutes.
Earlier, the 43-year-old was seconds away from lift-off in the US state of New Mexico on Tuesday when organizers decided to cancel because his huge, gossamer-thin balloon was buffeted badly, even while still on the ground.
The Red Bull Stratos mission managers said shortly afterward that Thursday could work for a new bid, but scrubbed that the next day due to a forecast of windy weather for most of the rest of the week.
The entire attempt was beamed live by broadcasters around the world, and online — although with a 20-second delay in case something goes wrong, so that organizers can cut the feed.
The Austrian had been training for five years for the jump. He holds several previous records, notably with spectacular base jumps from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The mission, backed by a 100-strong team of experts, also hopes to contribute to medical and aeronautical research aimed at improving the safety of astronauts.
Baumgartner spoke of his disappointment when the first launch was aborted.
“When (mission director) Art (Thompson) told me we were aborting the mission, I thought it was a joke,” he said.
“We’ve made it so far. There’s no turning back,” he added. “We’re here, we’ve got the helium and we’re good to go. Whether that’s tomorrow or the first day next week, I don’t really care.
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