The world looked on in fear and awe as Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumped from the edge of outer space on Sunday, breaking a slew of records and winning millions of instant fans.
The video feed — broadcast on a 20-second delay intended to give news stations time to cut away in case tragedy struck — was viewed by more than seven million people on YouTube alone.
The death-defying jump riveted audiences hungry for a genuinely extraordinary feat in an age when Nasa is mothballing human spaceflight and many other supposed thrill-seekers simply perform elaborate stunts.
Reactions poured in on Facebook and Twitter from people around the globe who had followed every step of the drama-packed mission, their lingering cynicism quickly turning to disbelief bordering on reverence.
First Baumgartner ascended in a small capsule attached to a massive helium-filled balloon, rising for more than two hours to reach a dizzying altitude more than 24 miles above the earth.
There was unexpected drama and minutes of uncertainty after it emerged that the heating mechanism on his visor wasn’t working.
Maybe this would be just like all the other PR exercises, but No! he shifted forward to the edge of the capsule, the earth but a distant blue haze below, and launched himself into freefall.
The biggest risk Baumgartner faced was spinning out of control, which could have exerted excessive G-force and made him lose consciousness.