But an incoming cold front is expected to bring cooler temperatures, strong winds and a bit of rain to the launch site on Monday, said officials with Baumgartner's mission, which is known as Red Bull Stratos. The jump can only be made if winds on the ground are under 2 mph for the initial launch a balloon carrying Baumgartner. Fearless: Felix, pictured here on a previous dive in July, plans to jump from the edge of the earth's atmosphere on Tuesday 
 
 No more than 20 minutes later, the world will know whether this audacious Austrian has become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier in the highest, fastest freefall descent in history. Austrian Felix Baumgartner, pictured at a news conference in New York, will leap from an aircraft 23 miles above New Mexico, in an attempt to jump higher and faster in a free fall than anyone ever before 
 
 ‘I have every expectation he’ll come through this successfully,’ says Dr Clark. In July, he leapt from 96,640ft — just 6,000ft shy of a world record set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, a U.S. air force test pilot. Fearless Felix, pictured saluting as he prepared in March to board a capsule carried by a balloon during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, New Mexico 
 
 But a disembodied voice will not protect him against some of the most extreme forces in nature. The Red Bull Stratos science team has confirmed that the capsule delivering Austrian sportsman Felix Baumgartner to the edge of space for his record-breaking free-fall attempt is mission ready 
 
 It was designed by some of the scientists who created the U.S. stealth bomber and is based on the famous Nasa Apollo rocket, but with a few key design differences. Baumgartner's leap requires calm conditions, because his 55-story-tall balloon is fragile — the material is 10 times thinner than a plastic sandwich bag — and could be damaged by high winds.
– Felix Baumgartner has already sky-dived from 13 miles up and 18 miles up—so what's a leap of 23 miles that shatters the sound barrier? Well, it at least requires good weather, so the record-breaking dive has been bumped from Monday to Tuesday to avoid strong winds and rain, Space.com reports. Then the 43-year-old Austrian will ride a specially designed capsule into the stratosphere and take a leap over southeastern New Mexico. The key for Baumgartner is to jump head-first and reach maximum speed so as to avoid an uncontrolled flat spin—which could cause brain damage and possibly kill him, the Daily Mail reports. Within 40 seconds he hopes to reach 700mph, and hit the speed of sound at around 100,000 feet. Ultimately he intends to land near Roswell. His plan after completing the feat: retire and enjoy a quiet life, which for him means working as a rescue helicopter pilot.