Updated on
Summary Austrian athlete Felix Baumgartner has started his ascent to 23 miles above earth.
Baumgartner is hoping to make a death-defying free fall that could make him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.Baumgartner took off Sunday in a pressurized capsule carried by a 55-story ultra-thin helium balloon that is expected to take nearly three hours to climb into the stratosphere.Baumgartner will jump into a near vacuum with no oxygen to begin what is expected to be the fastest, farthest free fall from the highest-ever manned balloon.Any contact with the capsule on his exit could tear the pressurized suit, a rip that could expose him to a lack of oxygen and temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 57 degrees Celsius).That could cause potentially lethal bubbles to form in his bodily fluids
