Felix Baumgartner
Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner celebrates after his successful freefall across the English Channel between Dover and Calais, July 31, 2003. After jumping out of a plane at 9000 metres (29,500ft) above Dover in southern England, wearing only an aerodynamic jumpsuit with a 6ft (1.8m) carbon fin strapped to his back, oxygen to breathe, and a parachute to land, Baumgartner landed safely in Calais after an eight-minute flight, becoming the first person to skydive across the English Channel. REUTERS

Extreme athlete Fearless Felix Baumgartner is attempting to amaze us all again by freefall-jumping from 120,000 feet in the air and hurtling towards earth at supersonic speeds before parachuting to the ground.

His attempt to dare atmospheric limits holds the potential to provide valuable medical and scientific data for future pioneers, his website, felixbaumgartner.com, says.

Yesterday, the 42-year-old Austrian skydiver and B.A.S.E. jumper jumped out of a space capsule at around 21,800 meters during his first test-flight in the New Mexico desert for his latest feat. In 2003, he was the first person to cross the English Channel by skydiving across the waterway.

Felix Baumgartner has set a number of world records in B.A.S.E. jumping and has a number of firsts on his resume.

In 1999, he set the world record for the highest B.A.S.E. jump from a building, when he jumped 1,479 feet off the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Also in that year, Felix Baumgartner set the record for the lowest B.A.S.E. dive when he jumped 95 feet off the Christ Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

In 2004, Baumgartner achieved a world record for B.A.S.E. jumping from the highest bridge in the world, France's Millau Bridge, at 1,125 feet.

In 2007, Baumgartner B.A.S.E. jumped into the second biggest cave in the world -- the Seating of the Spirits in Oman. He also B.A.S.E. jumped off the world's tallest building, Taipei's 101 Tower, which stands 1,669.95-feet tall.

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