34015 extreme sports felix baumgartner

Extreme Sports:
An extreme sport is an activity with a higher level of danger. Extreme sports often
involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and spectacular stunts. However,
there is no exact definition of an extreme sport. Many extreme sport athletes work on
their own and without a coach. Further, there are fewer rules than in traditional sports.
Especially younger people do and are interested in extreme sports.
FELIX'S DETAILS
Participant
Felix Baumgartner
D.O.B. (Date of Birth) Apr 20, 1969
Discipline(s)
B.A.S.E. Jumping
Felix Baumgartner professionally does the extreme sport Base Jumping. In 2003, Felix
completed a winged freefall across the English Channel and now he wants to break
another world record in freefall. With a team of the world's top scientists and doctors and
with the help of the Red Bull Stratos project Felix wants to make it happen.Born in
Salzburg, Felix began skydiving at age 16 and was a member of the Austrian military's
skydiving team. In 1988, he began to skydive for Red Bull. After that they have worked
together ever since.In the 1990s Felix started BASE jumping: that is parachuting from a
fixed object or landform. Felix has made world-record BASE jumps and has been
nominated for a World Sports Award and the NEA Extreme Sports Awards. In his new
project Red Bull Stratos he is trying to reach the edge of space and break the sound
barrier. "We can get data that hasn't been available over the last 50 years," Felix states.
"That makes me kind of proud.”
Vocabulary
physical exertion
to involve
on one’s own
Base Jumping
to complete
freefall

to break a world record
to make something happen
to skydive, to parachute
edge of space
sound barrier
to be proud
to be available
height

körperliche Anstrengung
beinhalten
alleine
Base Jumping, Objektspringen
vollenden, absolvieren
freier Fall
einen Weltrekord brechen
etwas möglich / geschehen machen
Fallschirmspringen
Kante des Weltraums
Schallmauer
stolz sein
verfügbar sein
Höhe

Questions to the text:
Is there an exact definition of an extreme sport?


Are there many rules in extreme sports?
When did Felix begin skydiving?

What is base jumping?
What does Felix want to do in his new Red Bull Stratos project?

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! RED BULL STRATOS AND FELIX
BAUMGARTNER BREAK THREE WORLD RECORDS
by Tim Sturtridge, Oct 14, 2012
46

On Sunday afternoon, in Roswell, New Mexico, Red Bull Stratos, the
mission to the edge of space, made history, with Felix Baumgartner
breaking the sound barrier during his 128,000 feet jump back to earth...


In front of a global audience of millions who watched the mission live on TV or
the internet, Felix took off, ascending to a total of 24.5 miles (39,045 m) in a
stratospheric balloon before jumping out. While standing outside his capsule
preparing to jump from the edge of space, Felix said: "Sometimes you have to
go really high to understand how small you are."
After accelerating to a top speed of 1,342.8 km/h during a freefall of 4m 19s, Felix
deployed his parachute, landing safely on the ground and toppling records that
have stood for more than 50 years. In total, Felix's freefall saw him drop 119,846
feet (36,500 m) before deploying his parachute.
As Felix dropped to his knees, raising his fists in triumph, it was a case of mission
accomplished as the team celebrated the unique achievement which includes the
breaking of three world records and which will also provide future aerospace
projects with a wealth of research and data.
Felix's jump took place exactly 65
years after Chuck Yeager
first broke the sound barrier flying in
an experimental rocket

powered airplane. The 43-year-old
Austrian skydiving expert
also broke two other world records
(highest freefall, highest
manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor
Colonel Joe Kittinger.
"It was an incredible up and down today, just like it's been with the whole project,"
a relieved Baumgartner said. "First we got off with a beautiful launch and then we
had a bit of drama with a power supply issue to my visor. The exit was perfect but
then I started spinning slowly. I thought I'd just spin a few times and that would be
it, but then I started to speed up. It was really brutal at times. I thought for a few
seconds that I'd lose consciousness. I didn't feel a sonic boom because I was so
busy just trying to stabilize myself. We'll have to wait and see if we really broke
the sound barrier. It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."
Baumgartner and his team spent five years training and preparing for the mission
that is designed to improve our scientific understanding of how the body copes
with the extreme conditions at the edge of space.
Baumgartner had endured several weather-related delays before finally lifting off
under bright blue skies and calm winds on Sunday morning. The Red Bull Stratos
crew watching from Mission Control broke out into spontaneous applause when
the balloon lifted off.

Felix's record-breaking achievements:
First freefall to break the speed of sound barrier: Felix's top speed
during freefall was 1,342.8km/h (Mach 1.24)
•
•

Freefall from highest altitude: 128,000 feet (previous record: 102,800 feet)
Highest manned balloon flight: Float altitude of 128,097 feet (previous record:

113,740 feet)
Vocabulary
global audience
to ascend

weltweites Publikum
aufsteigen


to accelerate
to deploy
parachute
drop to one’s knees
to accomplish
incredible
launch
power supply
visor
to spin
sonic boom
consciousness
delay
calm

beschleunigen
Entfalten, anwenden
Fallschirm
auf seine Knie fallen
vollenden, erfüllen
unglaublich

Start
Energieversorgung
Visier
drehen
Überschallknall
Bewusstsein
Verspätung, Verzögerung
ruhig

Questions to the text:
What height did Felix reach before he jumped out of his capsule?
What did he say before he jumped?
How long (km) was Felix’s freefall?
Which records did he break with this jump?

Which record that he wanted to break too didn’t he break?
Which problems did Felix face during his mission?
What was the scientific goal of his mission?