Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner is looking to do something no human has ever done before: he wants to skydive from the edge of space. Baumgartner’s plan is to set a new world record for the highest jump ever completed, a record currently held by Joe Kittinger at 102,800 feet; an altitude of nearly 20 miles.

Several attempts have been made to break Kittinger’s record, but none of them have been successful and one was fatal. The jump Baumgartner is planning to attempt would occur at 120,000 feet; that’s just shy of 23 miles. The attempt is being backed by Red Bull who claim that this isn’t about simply breaking a record, but that the data collected could be useful to NASA and potentially help in creating an escape plan for astronauts should they occur problems at such a height.

To say that the jump is dangerous is a gross understatement. Baumgartner will be the first human to reach supersonic speeds without the aid of a vehicle and breaking the sound barrier is going to be rough on the body. The jumper will be wearing a specially-designed, air tight jumpsuit to compensate for the extremely low air pressure. Without it, the results would be horrific, “It sounds melodramatic, but you start bleeding from your eyes,” says technical director Art Thompson.

Other challenges to overcome include the risk of getting the bends, a syndrome typically associated with deep sea diving as well as freezing perspiration since the temperatures could reach a tad nippy -140 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. All of these dangers haven’t scared away Felix and the Red Bull team though. They are currently stating that the jump will occur in 2010, but they haven’t yet set a specific date or location.

This sounds completely crazy to me; cool, but definitely crazy. I hope, for Felix’s sake, that Red Bull really does give you wings!

Check out the source article for more information!