Baumgartner will climb to around 23 miles (37 kilometers) above New Mexico in a pressurized capsule attached to history's largest helium balloon—55 stories tall and as wide as a football field. When the weather is right and all systems are go, he'll exit the capsule in a pressurized suit and free-fall to Earth.

Seven years in the making, the so-called Red Bull Stratos Mission to the Edge of Space is expected to break records as the highest, fastest, and longest-duration skydive.

Baumgartner's team estimates the Austrian sky diver and helicopter pilot will reach Mach 1.2—roughly 690 miles (1,110 kilometers) an hour—and free-fall for five and a half minutes before opening a parachute at 5,000 feet (1,524)