Felix Baumgartner lands safely on Earth after record-breaking skydive Felix Baumgartner in the capsule on a screen at mission control center during the final manned flight in Roswell, New Mexico. Standing at the edge of space above the deserts of New Mexico, Felix Baumgartner paused slightly. It was a small step away from the capsule, but a 24-mile drop back down to earth. "Our guardian angel will take care of you," said mission control, and the man known as Fearless Felix jumped. Ten heart-stopping minutes later the Austrian landed back on earth, after reaching speeds of up to 725mph, breaking two world records and probably becoming the world's first supersonic skydiver. "We love you Felix," cheered the control room as his mother, Ava Baumgartner, wept. Baumgartner, who claimed the records for the highest altitude manned balloon flight and the highest altitude skydive, raised his arms in a victory salute to thank his team. "Looks like he probably broke Mach," said project commentator Bob Hager, referring to Mach 1, used to measure the speed of sound. Baumgartner was wearing a specially designed survival suit that kept his body intact against the hugely varying pressures that marked his drop back to earth. Without it, his blood would have boiled and his lungs might have exploded. After two aborted attempts last week, the mission was given the go-ahead yesterday morning with the co-operation of the weather. Baumgartner was carried aloft into crystal clear skies by a gigantic balloon, that measured 30 million square cubic feet and whose skin was one-tenth the thickness of a sandwich bag. At the bottom of the balloon was a capsule, in which Baumgartner sat in his suit. As he reached the desired height, Baumgartner went through a checklist of 40 items with his mentor Joe Kittinger, the previous holder of the highest altitude manned balloon flight. There was some concern that a heater for his visor was not working, causing his visor to fog. "This is very serious, Joe," he told Kitttinger. Sometimes it's getting foggy when I exhale. ... I do not feel heat. But they decided to go ahead, watched by a record 8 million people as the jump was streamed live on YouTube. The two-and-a-half hour journey upwards, during which the curvature of the earth became visible and the skies gradually turned black, was matched with a rather more rapid descent. Three cameras attached to Baumgartner's suit recorded the staggering descent, his parachute opening after a freefall of just over four minutes - failing to break the existing freefall record for duration. The success of the mission, and of the suit, raises the prospect that astronauts might be able to survive a high altitude disaster of the type that struck the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 by actually bailing out of their craft. Baumgartner's top medical man in the stunt was Dr Jonathan Clark, whose wife Laurel Clark died in the Columbia accident. Clark is now dedicated to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster. Baumgartner has made a name for himself with acts of daring. The former paratrooper has parachuted off buildings and mountains and once into a 600 foot deep cave. He had already done two practise freefalls in preparation for this attempt - one from 71,000 feet in March this year and a second from 97,000 feet in July. But no feat can possibly have matched his jump above the town of Roswell, a suitably chosen place famed for its connections to UFO sightings. He was chasing five different records: the first human to ever break the sound barrier in free-fall; the highest free-fall altitude jump, the highest manned balloon flight and longest free-fall and his jump platform is believed to be the largest manned balloon in history. The stunt, which was seven years in the planning and sponsored by the suitably high octane drink Red Bull, surpassed Kittinger's the achievement - a retired US Air Force colonel who had previously held the high altitude and speed records for parachuting. Kittinger had jumped from a balloon at 19 miles into the sky in 1960 and his record lasted more than half a century until Baumgartner came along. Suitably, given the uniqueness of the experience, the only voice in his helmet radio earpiece guiding Baumgartner on the ascent was Kittinger's. Now 84, the ageing pilot has become a mentor to the Austrian. Baumgartner's achievement was all the more remarkable given that he also had to overcome claustrophobia when, during preparations for the stunt, he noticed that spending hours inside the stiff, heavy suit induced feelings of terror and paranoia. In late 2010 Baumgartner ran away from an endurance test in the suit and instead got on an airplane and left the country. He was only able to overcome the feelings with help from experts who devised a mental check-list to keep his mind busy on the ascent: which he went through with the help of Kittinger's instructions over the radio. But this will be the last jump, Baumgartner says. He has promised to settle down and enjoy his post-jump years with his girlfriend, Nicole Oetl, flying helicopters on rescue missions in the US and Austria.