Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service, with me, Dan

Hardoon.

Today, I'm speaking to a daredevil who made headlines a decade ago when he jumped to Earth

from a helium balloon in the stratosphere.

My name is Felix Baumgartner, I'm from Austria, and I'm famous for breaking the sound

barrier as the first human in history.

During his nine-minute jump, Felix, wearing only a pressure suit, reached a record speed

of over 1,000 kilometres per hour.

That's faster than the speed of sound.

The audacious project, known as Red Bull's Stratos and funded by the Energy Drink Company,

was seen live by a global audience of millions.

Watching the footage back now, you can see a 43-year-old Felix stepping cautiously out

of a capsule suspended in mid-air.

He gazes down more than 38,000 metres at the Earth below.

I'm standing on top of the world, nobody has been higher outside of the capsule.

This guy above me was completely black, there were no stars that did this one step forward.

It's always an interesting step because you cannot reverse, and if it's meant to be that

you're going to die, you're going to die.

Felix had his first taste of skydiving as a teenager in his hometown of Salzburg.

Since the first moment when I jumped out of an aircraft, I knew this is my sport,

because I was so fascinated by the fact when you jumped out of an aircraft,

you're not going to hurt yourself as long as you pull the parachute at the right moment.

...