The documentary on this feat is really good.

Baumgartner, in addition to training for maximum physical fitness, also had to enlist the services of counsellors to help overcome the fear and claustrophobia that wearing a space suit and riding the cramped life support capsule to altitude for hours induced. Passing through altitudes with such low atmospheric pressure that one’s blood will boil at body temperature, Felix had to come to terms with the inescapability from the capsule during the ascent to altitude, knowing that any failure of the experimental prototype’s envelope would result in a horrifying, painful death if it happened before he donned his helmet and pressurized his suit prior to exit. He could not use up the suit’s onboard oxygen carrying capacity for anything but the time immediately before exit and during the freefall. So there was a time where his only protection from boiling to death and exploding was the capsule itself.

The whole story is a great tale of human ingenuity and courage. An elderly Joe Kittinger, the last man to set the altitude and speed record for human freefall in the 1960’s, was a mentor to Baumgartner throughout the project, and was on hand on the day of the attempt.

As a former skydiver, I remember where I was this day like I remember where I was the days of the Challenger shuttle disaster, 9/11, and the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. Historic. 🤙🏽