Felix Baumgartner, first skydiver to fall quicker than pace of sound, dies in crash in Italy

Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, the primary skydiver to fall quicker than the pace of sound throughout a 24-mile leap by way of the stratosphere greater than a decade in the past, died in a crash Thursday (July 18, 2025) alongside the jap coast of Italy. He was 56.

Italian firefighters who responded stated a paraglider crashed into the facet of a swimming pool within the metropolis of Porto Sant Elpidio.

The metropolis’s mayor confirmed Baumgartner’s loss of life in a social media submit.

“Our group is deeply affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a determine of worldwide prominence, an emblem of braveness and keenness for excessive flight,” Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella stated.

Record leap in 2012

Baumgartner, referred to as “Fearless Felix,” surprised the world in 2012 when he turned the primary human to interrupt the sound barrier with solely his physique. He wore a pressurized go well with and jumped from a capsule hoisted greater than 24 miles (39 kilometers) above Earth by a large helium balloon over New Mexico.

The Austrian, who was a part of the Red Bull Stratos group, topped out at 843.6 mph — the equal of 1.25 instances the pace of sound — throughout a nine-minute descent. At one level, he went right into a doubtlessly harmful flat spin whereas nonetheless supersonic, spinning for 13 seconds, his crew later stated.

“When I used to be standing there on high of the world, you grow to be so humble, you don’t take into consideration of breaking information anymore, you don’t consider about gaining scientific information. The solely factor you need is to come back again alive,” he stated after touchdown within the jap New Mexico desert.

The altitude he jumped from additionally was the highest-ever for a skydiver, shattering the earlier document set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, who served as an adviser to Baumgartner throughout his feat.

Baumgartner’s altitude document stood for 2 years till Google govt Alan Eustace set new marks for the best free-fall leap and best free-fall distance​.

Internet sensation

In 2012, hundreds of thousands watched YouTube’s livestream as Baumgartner coolly flashed a thumbs-up when he got here out of the capsule excessive above Earth after which activated his parachute as he neared the bottom, lifting his arms in victory after he landed.

Baumgartner, a former Austrian navy parachutist, made 1000’s of jumps from planes, bridges, skyscrapers and famed landmarks, together with the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil.

In 2003, he flew throughout the English Channel in a carbon fiber wing after being dropped from a airplane.

In current years, he carried out with The Flying Bulls as a helicopter stunt pilot in exhibits throughout Europe.

Baumgartner stated after his record-breaking leap in 2012 that touring quicker than sound is “laborious to explain since you don’t really feel it.”

“Sometimes we now have to get actually excessive to see how small we’re,” he stated.