The world record for the highest skydive has been broken with Felix Baumgartner jumping from 128,038 feet or 39.026 kilometers. The previous record; set in 1961 was 102,800 feet; set by Joseph Kittinger. This record will stand for some time before this is broken again. Humans can achieve some incredible things when we set our minds to it. The atmosphere at that altitude is very thin indeed; and the temperature is -68 degrees Celsius. A small rip in the pressure suit he was wearing would have caused swelling and bruising as well as frostbite and other injuries but since that is what happened to the previous record holder in 1961 it is not life threatening; just a painful annoyance. I wonder if it is possible for someone to bail out of a spacecraft and survive parachuting back to Earth. Since the astronaut would pick up considerable speed whilst in re-entry they would need a heat shield to protect them. Space capsules that re-entered the atmosphere do so at a very high speed and survive temperatures of 3000 degrees Celsius. But a special plan would be in order to design a suit that could survive re-entry for an unfortunate astronaut.
Jumping from 128.038 feet requires a special degree of courage and determination. We should look up to Felix as a man that dared to try something that has not been done since 1961 and to outdo the previous record deserves some incredible praise. Space is the final frontier; even though we have explored more of space than the oceans below but space is not a realm of crushing pressures; it is vacuum instead. Here below is the video of this historic moment. Someone will do this again and break this record but not for a while.