1961: Lt. Commander Victor Prather and Commander Malcolm Ross ascend with a balloon to 113,740 feet / 34,668 meters as part of Project RAM, a U.S. government program to test prototype spacesuits. The altitude breaks Joe Kittinger’s record for highest manned balloon flight, but when the pair descend to earth via balloon as planned, Prather slips off the hook of the retrieval helicopter and drowns in the ocean before divers can rescue him. The team’s record for highest manned balloon flight still stands.

Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria steps out from the capsule during the second manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, New Mexico, USA on July 25, 2012. Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of space to an altitude of 37.000 meters to break several records including the sound of speed in freefall. (c) Jay Nemeth/Red Bull Content Pool

1962: Maj. Yevgeny Andreyev and Col. Peter Dolgov of the Soviet Union, both veteran parachutists, ascend in a balloon called the Volga. Andreyev jumps from 83,523 feet / 25,458 meters and lands safely. Dolgov continues to 93,970 feet / 28,642 meters before jumping – and his parachute deploys almost immediately. He dies on the long descent (cause undisclosed).

1965-66: Nicholas Piantanida, a private citizen and truck driver from the U.S. state of New Jersey, makes three balloon launches in the attempt to set a new official world freefall record and investigate the effects of supersonic speed on the human body. On the third jump, he experienced severe decompression at 57,600 feet (17,556 meters) and died four months later.

2008: Michel Fournier, a retired French Air Force Colonel, attempts a privately funded mission to jump from 25 miles / 40 kilometers over Canada. A technical glitch causes the balloon to disengage from the capsule during inflation, causing the balloon envelope to float away while the capsule remains on earth.

2010: Fourner attempts another launch from Canada, but is again foiled by a technical problem as the capsule is prepared for takeoff.

Best of luck to Felix Baumgartner #LiveJump today.