PREPARATION

Earlier Baumgartner prepared to jump from the pressurized capsule by going through a checklist of 40 items with project adviser Joe Kittinger, holder of a 19-mile high altitude parachute jump record that Baumgartner smashed.

Earlier in the flight, he expressed concern that his astronaut-like helmet was not heating properly.

“This is very serious, Joe,” said Baumgartner as the capsule, designed to remain at 55 degrees Fahrenheit ascended in skies where temperatures were expected to plunge below -91.8 F (-67.8 C), according to the project’s website. “Sometimes it’s getting foggy when I exhale. ... I do not feel heat.”

Baumgartner’s ascent into the stratosphere took about 2-1/2 hours.

The 30 million-cubic-foot (850,000-cubic-metre) plastic balloon, is about one-tenth the thickness of a plastic bag, or roughly as thin as a dry cleaner bag.

(Additional reporting by Irene Klotz; Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Cynthia Osterman)