A skydiver jumping from a balloon has broken a 52-year-old record for the highest parachute jump and set an altitude record for a balloon passenger. Felix Baumgartner's attempt to free fall faster than the speed of sound has yet to be verified, but it appeared he passed the 1,110 kilometer per hour barrier.

After riding in a pressurized capsule carried aloft by a balloon filled with 850,00 cubic meters of helium, Baumgartner jumped from more than 38 kilometers above (the southwest U.S. state of) New Mexico.

The Austrian daredevil broke the high-altitude jump record set in 1960 by American Joe Kittinger, who helped with Baumgartner's jump.

Baumgartner landed safely about 10 minutes after jumping from the capsule.

The jump was completed 65 years to the day after Chuck Yeager broke the speed barrier for the first time in the Bell X-1 airplane.