14 DAY TRIAL // Felix Baumgartner is now more than one hour into his ascent getting ready for his historic jump from 36.5 km, 23 miles. He's still got about 10 km to go before he reaches the jump height. Already, he's higher than any plane would go.
The weather was finally favorable for the inflation and the launch. The balloon, the largest ever built to carry a human, needs almost perfectly still wind while it's being inflated so it doesn't get pushed away. The ascent and the jump also needs perfectly clear weather.
The wind is actually still a problem, it pushed the balloon more to the east than the team would have wanted. Still, the balloon is now high enough to encounter winds that would push it back towards the ideal location for the jump.
It's going to take an hour or so to reach the jump height, the ascent speed is slower as he goes up. When he reaches the needed altitude, he'll get out of the capsule and jump feet first.
He has to turn completely around as soon as he jumps to go head first. He'll accelerate incredibly fast, the atmosphere is almost nonexistent and he's expected to reach 1,100 km/h, 690 mph, the speed of sound at that height, 30 s to 40 s into the jump.
He's unlikely to even notice, there's too little air for a sonic boom or any other similar clue. He'll continue to freefall for several minutes before deploying the parachute. The entire trip is going to take 10 minutes or so.
UPDATE: He's now going through the pre-jump checklist, verifying that everything is in order. The capsule is being depressurized and the full pressure suit is now taking over.
The balloon is now at almost 39,000 m or 128,000 feet. He will be jumping momentarily.
UPDATE2: He's now parachuting down to Earth having jumped from almost 39,000 m. It's going to be a few more minutes before he gets down.
UPDATE3: He's down safely, having broken several records. Unofficial numbers are 4 min 20 s freefall, the record is 4:36 set by Kittinger. He broke the record for the highest manned balloon flight, the highest jump and the fastest freefall, most likely supersonic.