BASE JUMPING IN RIO

In this heart-stopping photograph, we see Austrian athlete Felix Baumgartner atop the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brail. The photo shows Felix preparing to BASE jump the iconic statue back on December 3,2001.

Cristo Redentor (English: Christ the Redeemer) is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world. It is 39.6 metres (130 ft) tall, including its 9.5 metres (31 ft) pedestal, and 30 metres (98 ft) wide. It weighs 635 tonnes and is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. [Source: Wikipedia]

Felix is currently partaking in the Red Bull Stratos project. The mission of Stratos is to jump from a stratospheric balloon 120,000 ft above Earth, with the goal of breaking the speed of sound during freefall.

In build-up to the record attempt, Felix has most recently jumped from 18 miles / 29 kilometres above the Earth at 97,063 feet / 29,584 meters, free-falling as fast as a commercial airliner – 536 miles or 864 kilometres per hour. You can find the latest at: http://www.redbullstratos.com