Here's hoping he synchronized first.

Seems legit.

[thanks, matt!]

UPDATE: The jump has been aborted due to "gusty winds." No word on when it will be rescheduled.

You don't want to miss this -- watch live on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. PST/1:30 p.m. EST as Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner attempts to make history:

Baumgartner will undertake a stratospheric balloon flight to more than 120,000 feet and make a record-breaking freefall jump in the attempt to become the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall (an estimated 690 miles per hour), while delivering valuable data for medical and scientific advancement.

Fingers crossed that this ends well.

Daredevil Felix Baumgartner took another step -- a great leap, even -- toward his plan to complete a world-record parachute jump from the edge of space. Yesterday, Baumgartner pulled off a successful test jump from 13.6 miles up, landing safely in a Roswell, NM field.

The test jump took 8 minutes, and Baumgartner reached a free-fall speed of 364 mph before opening his chute.

"The view is amazing, way better than I thought," Baumgartner said.

He has one more test jump planned, from 17 miles up, before he completes his 23-mile record attempt sometime between July and October.

The record Baumgartner is trying to break is 19.5 miles, set by retired Air Force officer Joe Kittinger in 1960.

[usatoday]