World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Felix Baumgartner of Austria is seen in a screen at the mission control center in the capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos in Roswell, N.M. on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Red Bull, Stefan Aufschnaiter)

Officials say that Felix Baumgartner has become the first skydiver to break the speed of sound.

At a news conference, Brian Utley of the International Federation of Sports Aviation, says Baumgartner reached a maximum speed of 1,342 kph during his jump Sunday over the New Mexico desert.

That amounts to Mach 1.24, which is faster than the speed of sound. No one has ever reached that speed wearing only a high-tech suit.

Baumgartner says that travelling faster than sound is "hard to describe because you don't feel it." With no reference points, "you don't know how fast you travel."

Baumgartner came down safely in the eastern New Mexico desert about nine minutes after jumping from his capsule 39,044 metres above Earth.