B.A.S.E. 502
Before reading Have you ever done something you were afraid of doing? What was it?
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Felix Baumgartner became world famous when he jumped from a helium balloon in the stratosphere. What makes a person do something like that? Ever since he was a boy Felix was a daredevil. He climbed trees because he loved the bird’s-eye view. His biggest dream was to fly in the sky. As soon as he turned sixteen, Felix went to the local skydiving club and learned to skydive. From that moment, he was addicted. Felix likes all kinds of risky sport, and his hobbies are climbing, boxing, motocross, helicopters and rally driving. He is a helicopter pilot, a skydiver and a base jumper. His nicknames are “B.A.S.E. 502” and “Fearless Felix”. Felix spent five years training before he jumped from the stratosphere on 14 October 2012. He skydived about 39 000 metres at a speed of 1342 kilometres per hour. His family and the whole world were watching as he was pulled up to the stratosphere in a small space capsule. He landed safely on the ground nine minutes later. Alan Eustace broke Felix’s record for highest free-fall parachute jump in 2014, but still Felix’s famous jump from the stratosphere has a lot of records. Maybe you can find out what they are?
Some of Felix’s records are: • • • •
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The highest jump from a building (the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur). A jump from the highest building in Scandinavia (Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden). The lowest dive (from the Christ Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). A jump from the highest bridge in the world (Millau Bridge, France).
