Jump from 24-miles high provides collective moment

(certainly more entertaining than flag pole sitting. Not sure what it is that drives people during times of financial duress to go for outrageous stunts. High wire hijinks were quite popular during the depression. That a human being managed to plummet at the speed of sound is amazing none the less, just goes to show it ain’t the fall what kills ya it’s the sudden stop at the end.)

By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA and OSKAR GARCIA, APROSWELL, N.M. — Felix Baumgartner stood poised in the open hatch of a capsule suspended above Earth, wondering if he would make it back alive. Twenty four miles below him, millions of people were right there with him, watching on the Internet and marveling at the wonder of the moment.

A second later, he stepped off the capsule and barreled toward the New Mexico desert as a tiny white speck against a darkly-tinted sky. Millions watched him breathlessly as he shattered the sound barrier and then landed safely about nine minutes later, becoming the world's first supersonic skydiver.

"When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data," Baumgartner said after Sunday's jump. "The only thing you want is to come back alive."

The tightly-orchestrated jump meant to break records became much more in the dizzying, breathtaking moment — a collectively shared cross between Neil Armstrong's moon landing and Evel Knievel's famed motorcycle jumps on ABC's "Wide World of Sports."

It was part scientific wonder, part daredevil reality show, with the live-streamed event instantly capturing the world's attention on a sleepy Sunday at the same time seven NFL football games were being played in the U.S. It proved, once again, the power of the Internet in a world where news travels as fast as Twitter.

The event happened without a network broadcast in the United States, though organizers said more than 40 television stations in 50 countries — including cable's Discovery Channel in the U.S. — carried the live feed. Instead, millions flocked online, drawing more than 8 million simultaneous views to a YouTube live stream at its peak, YouTube officials said.