Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are.
Felix Baumgartner
Heroes don't wear diapers. It's just not cool.
I was crossing the English Channel with a carbon-fiber wing on my back.
As a little kid, I climbed a lot of trees because I always loved the bird's-eye view.
If the Wright brothers hadn't put their lives on the line, we would not be flying around the world these days. So we need pioneers.
I can't bear the thought of my mother having to push me around in a wheelchair. I'd rather die quickly.
I've done a lot of things in a business where you're lucky to stay alive, so when the time comes, I'll be happy to pass my knowledge along and help someone else.
To jump and break the sound barrier will not be a mere record breaking experience or another extreme event that ends once the mission is accomplished.
Well, I jumped for the first time when I was 16. I just loved it and immediately realized that it was what I wanted to do.
Aviation - and space travel, in particular - have always been especially captivating.
I had to work with a psychiatrist.
They call me Fearless Felix.
The stratosphere is a hostile place.
At a certain R.P.M., there's only one way for blood to leave your body, and that's through your eyeballs. That means you're dead.
I like to challenge myself.
I have a lot of fears that normal people have.
I always feel the danger because you might always be subject to an unexpected or emergency event.
This claustrophobia was the only weakness I had. It's not my fault. It's just in my mind.
I'm now a member of a pretty small club.
I base jumped off the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro.
If I do something, it's always 90% obvious and 10% unknown.
Let me tell you - when I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble. You don't think about breaking records anymore, you don't think about gaining scientific data - the only thing that you want is to come back alive.
I started skydiving because I loved the idea of freedom.
Normally, when I skydive, even in winter, I wear very thin gloves. I want to be flexible, with fast reactions.
I feel comfortable with what I do and I guess that my girlfriend feels the same.
I'm retired from the daredevil business.
I want to find a nice decent job as a helicopter pilot.
I don't like to rate myself; others can do that.
People are fascinated about the world above them because it seems so out-of-reach.
I have no privacy anymore.
People should decide 'are you willing to spend all this money to go to Mars?' I think the average person on the ground would never spend that amount of money - they have to spend it on something that makes sense and this is definitely saving our planet.
You have seen on TV how hard it is to go up 129,000 feet and how hard it is to come down.
Of course my life has changed because now everybody knows who Felix Baumgartner is.
I always had the dream of flying, and the cheapest way is to become a skydiver.
I base jumped off one of the highest buildings in the world.
I'm more a competitive person.
I'm 100 percent sure I'm becoming a really good helicopter pilot.
Well, to me, my past accomplishments weren't crazy. They required a lot of skill and careful planning.
