Felix Baumgartner, an Australian daredevil and helicopter pilot, was forced to temporarily abort the 120,000ft sky-dive due to high winds.
The mission, which is sponsored by Red Bull, would break a number of world records, including the highest manned balloon flight and the longest free-fall.
More importantly, the 48-year-old ex-paratrooper was expected to become the first man to ever break the sound barrier (690mph) in free-fall during the 10 minute descent.
“Fearless Felix” had also hoped to shatter the 102,800ft (19.5 miles) milestone set by former US Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger (now a key member of Baumgartner’s team) in 1960, and looked on course to do so after two successful test runs at 15 and 18 miles in March and July.
But whilst Felix strapped himself into the launch capsule just minutes before take-off, high winds whipped across the 55-storey balloon, forcing mission control to abort.
“That was a total disappointment, honestly. But as long as we have a spare balloon, and as long as we have more launch opportunities, I’m good”, Baumgartner said afterwards.
“We’ve made it so far, there’s no way we’re turning back”, he later declared on the mission’s official twitter feed.
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Team spokeswoman Sarah Anderson ruled out a fresh launch attempt until Thursday at the very earliest, but gloomy weather forecasts may push back the launch date further.
The balloon used on Tuesday’s failed attempt is not re-usable, meaning that the team has just one more attempt left, since they only have one $250,000 back-up balloon.
Here’s the video of Joe Kittinger’s awe-inspiring 102,800ft jump in 1960:
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