Red Bull Stratos: Felix Baumgartner completes test jump from 96,000 feet - Video

Skooter reporting 10/10/12

Over Roswell, New Mexico, the Austrian B.A.S.E. jumper, Felix Baumgartner, successfully landed the second Red Bull Stratos test jump from 96,640 feet on Wednesday morning, bringing him and his team one big step closer to setting a new world record.

The first test jump this past spring, went off effortlessly at 71,580 feet and, after couple of days of postponements, because to the weather and then due to high winds, Red Bull Stratos was ready for its second manned test jump. The Red Bull Stratos website announced on Wednesday morning that the team are airborne! Felix is on his way up inside a pressurized space capsule to 90,000ft under a helium-filled balloon.

The Red Bull Stratos site went blank for a few hours as people from around the globe tweeted questions and hang on for the capsule carrying Baumgartner to climb to roughly 90,000 feet. Then the team broadcasted in a short news report that Baumgartner had effectively landed the test jump after 3 minutes and 48 seconds of freefall leading up to the 10-minute, 36-second descent.

It is the dream of Baumgartner to become the first man to jump from 120,000 feet above the Earth, breaking a 52-year-old record, held by Joe Kittinger, who is now a part of the Red Bull Stratos team. The project is now in its fifth year in the making and the second manned test jump is the final test before Baumgartner goes for the record, a little bit between now and the end of September.

FoxNews/Red Bull