Baumgartner: “It was harder than we though”

United States, October 14, 2012

After landing, the Austrian Felix Baumgartner said “it was more difficult than we all thought,” adding “up there is a different world.”

“For a moment I thought I was going to lose consciousness,” he confessed, because of the violence of the fall reaching a speed of 1,173 kilometers per hour in the first 40 seconds. “You’re under pressure, you don’t feel the air,” he said.

While the skydiver carried a special parachute to stabilize the decline he decided not to use it because he said he always knew what he was doing during the fall.

“It was very difficult. You feel dehydrated, you feel tired. Up there is a different world, the body reacts differently. It has been very difficult, I hope to have passed the barrier of the sound” he said.

According to the calculations, the expected mission broke the sound barrier in the first forty seconds of the fall, when he accelerated to 1173 kilometers per hour.

“I have not felt this sonic blow, I think that goes behind one, I was too busy maintaining control. I have no idea if I’ve flown through the barrier (sound)”

Baumgartner had to control the fall to avoid falling into a spin, which may have led him to lose consciousness or suffer a brain hemorrhage if he loses the control.