Felix Baumgartner, skydiver who free-fell from edge of space, dies in crash

Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian skydiver who became the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound without the assistance of a craft during his record-breaking leap through the stratosphere, died Thursday after crashing into a town along the eastern coast of Italy, authorities said. He was 56.

Baumgartner had been flying with a motorized paraglider when he crashed near a swimming pool at a tourist village in the coastal town of Porto Sant’Elpidio, the town mayor’s office said in an email.

While his cause of death is still being determined, Baumgartner had lost consciousness at the time of impact, and it is likely he had suffered a medical issue while in flight, the mayor’s office said.

“Our community is deeply affected by the tragic passing of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight … Porto Sant’Elpidio is holding around his family and loved ones at this time of sorrow,” Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella said in a post on social media.

An employee at the tourist village was also injured when she was hit by debris from the motorized paraglider at the moment of impact, the mayor’s office said.

Baumgartner made headlines around the world in 2012, when he jumped from a capsule hoisted more than 24 miles above Earth. Millions around the world watched the live feed of the stunt, in which he reached a speed of 843.6 mph, or Mach 1.25.

“Sometimes you have to go really high to see how small you are,” he said at the time.

Baumgartner began skydiving at the age of 16, eventually joining the Austrian military’s demonstration and competition team before becoming an extreme athlete for Red Bull, the sponsor of his 2012 feat, according to his website. He began BASE jumping in the 1990s, going on to set 14 world records, including jumping from what was then the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101, in 2007, his website said.

In a statement posted on Friday, Red Bull described Baumgartner as “clear, demanding and critical,” someone who “sought out the greatest challenges and mastered them with sharp thinking, relentless precision and a good dose of courage.”

“We grew with you and you with us,” the statement read. “We wouldn’t trade a single day we had together. You will stay with us as a colleague, a loyal companion, but most of all as a friend.”