34015 extreme sports felix baumgartner

Jumping Felix Baumgartner professionally does the extreme sport Base Jumping.. In 2003, Felix completed a winged freefall across the English Channel and now he wants to break another wor

Extreme Sports:

An extreme sport is an activity with a higher level of danger Extreme sports often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and spectacular stunts However, there is no exact definition of an extreme sport Many extreme sport athletes work on their own and without a coach Further, there are fewer rules than in traditional sports Especially younger people do and are interested in extreme sports

FELIX'S DETAILS

Participant Felix Baumgartner

D.O.B (Date of Birth) Apr 20, 1969

Discipline(s) B.A.S.E Jumping

Felix Baumgartner professionally does the extreme sport Base Jumping In 2003, Felix completed a winged freefall across the English Channel and now he wants to break another world record in freefall With a team of the world's top scientists and doctors and with the help of the Red Bull Stratos project Felix wants to make it happen.Born in Salzburg, Felix began skydiving at age 16 and was a member of the Austrian military's skydiving team In 1988, he began to skydive for Red Bull After that they have worked together ever since.In the 1990s Felix started BASE jumping: that is parachuting from a fixed object or landform Felix has made world-record BASE jumps and has been

nominated for a World Sports Award and the NEA Extreme Sports Awards In his new project Red Bull Stratos he is trying to reach the edge of space and break the sound barrier "We can get data that hasn't been available over the last 50 years," Felix states

"That makes me kind of proud.”

Vocabulary

to break a world record einen Weltrekord brechen

to make something happen etwas möglich / geschehen machen

to skydive, to parachute Fallschirmspringen

Questions to the text:

Is there an exact definition of an extreme sport?

Are there many rules in extreme sports?

When did Felix begin skydiving?

What is base jumping?

What does Felix want to do in his new Red Bull Stratos project?

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! RED BULL STRATOS AND FELIX BAUMGARTNER BREAK THREE WORLD RECORDS

by Tim Sturtridge, Oct 14, 2012

46

On Sunday afternoon, in Roswell, New Mexico, Red Bull Stratos , the mission to the edge of space, made history, with Felix Baumgartner breaking the sound barrier during his 128,000 feet jump back to earth

In front of a global audience of millions who watched the mission live on TV or the internet, Felix took off, ascending to a total of 24.5 miles (39,045 m) in a stratospheric balloon before jumping out While standing outside his capsule preparing to jump from the edge of space, Felix said: "Sometimes you have to

go really high to understand how small you are."

After accelerating to a top speed of 1,342.8 km/h during a freefall of 4m 19s, Felix deployed his parachute, landing safely on the ground and toppling records that have stood for more than 50 years In total, Felix's freefall saw him drop 119,846 feet (36,500 m) before deploying his parachute

As Felix dropped to his knees, raising his fists in triumph, it was a case of mission accomplished as the team celebrated the unique achievement which includes the breaking of three world records and which will also provide future aerospace projects with a wealth of research and data

Felix's jump took place exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket powered airplane The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor Colonel Joe Kittinger

"It was an incredible up and down today, just like it's been with the whole project,"

a relieved Baumgartner said "First we got off with a beautiful launch and then we had a bit of drama with a power supply issue to my visor The exit was perfect but then I started spinning slowly I thought I'd just spin a few times and that would be

it, but then I started to speed up It was really brutal at times I thought for a few seconds that I'd lose consciousness I didn't feel a sonic boom because I was so busy just trying to stabilize myself We'll have to wait and see if we really broke the sound barrier It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

Baumgartner and his team spent five years training and preparing for the mission that is designed to improve our scientific understanding of how the body copes with the extreme conditions at the edge of space

Baumgartner had endured several weather-related delays before finally lifting off under bright blue skies and calm winds on Sunday morning The Red Bull Stratos crew watching from Mission Control broke out into spontaneous applause when the balloon lifted off

Felix's record-breaking achievements:

First freefall to break the speed of sound barrier: Felix's top speed

during freefall was 1,342.8km/h (Mach 1.24)

• Freefall from highest altitude: 128,000 feet (previous record: 102,800 feet)

• Highest manned balloon flight: Float altitude of 128,097 feet (previous record: 113,740 feet)

Vocabulary

to accelerate beschleunigen

Questions to the text:

What height did Felix reach before he jumped out of his capsule? What did he say before he jumped?

How long (km) was Felix’s freefall?

Which records did he break with this jump?

Which record that he wanted to break too didn’t he break?

Which problems did Felix face during his mission?

What was the scientific goal of his mission?