Felix Baumgartner's space leap - highlights

In a giant leap from more than 24 miles up, a daredevil skydiver shattered the sound barrier while making the highest jump ever - a tumbling, death-defying plunge from a balloon to a safe landing in the New Mexico desert.

Austrian Felix Baumgartner hit Mach 1.24, or 833.9 mph (1,342 kph) on Sunday 14 October , according to preliminary data, and became the first man to reach supersonic speed without travelling in a jet or a spacecraft after hopping out of a capsule that had reached an altitude of 128,100 feet (39,045 meters) above the Earth.

Landing on his feet in the desert, the man known as "Fearless Felix" lifted his arms in victory to the cheers of jubilant friends and spectators who closely followed his descent in a live television feed at the command centre.

A worldwide audience watched live on the Internet via cameras mounted on his capsule as Baumgartner, wearing a pressurised suit, stood in the doorway of his capsule, gave a thumbs-up and leapt into the stratosphere.

"The whole world is watching now. I wish it could see what I can see," said Felix, just before making the jump.

Baumgartner's descent lasted just over nine minutes, about half of it in a free fall.