Baumgartner also broke the record for highest manned balloon flight, set by U.S. Navy fliers Malcolm Ross and Victor A. Prather in 1961. He also aimed to be the first human being to break the speed of sound with just his body, but it was not immediately clear whether or not he had crossed that mark.

The death-defying leap began when Baumgartner lifted off from Roswell, N.M., on Sunday morning, riding in a capsule attached to a 55-story balloon that hoisted him into the stratosphere after an ascent of more than two and a half hours.

“There’s the world out there!” Kittinger crowed as the door of the capsule rolled open at around 128,000 feet.

As Baumgartner stood on the edge of the capsule, the earth below his feet looked featureless and barren.

“I’m going home now,” Baumgartner  said as he stepped off.

Shortly after hopping off the capsule, Baumgartner folded into the arrow-like “delta position,” executed to avoid a lateral spin that could create dangerously high g-forces. After free-falling for a little over four minutes, he opened his parachute and landed safely on his feet amongst the scrub brush.

Baumgartner did not break the record for longest freefall, which Kittinger still holds.

The aim to fall at supersonic speed was only feasible because Baumgartner jumped from the stratosphere, where the air is thinner. Normally, air resistance limits skydivers to a terminal velocity below the speed of sound, because the opposing drag force will equalize the gravitational force. As Baumgartner fell, the local terminal velocity decreases, so he actually slowed in his descent as he neared ground level.

It was unclear before the jump what effect the sonic boom would have on Baumgartner’s physiology. Falling at that speed generates a colossal amount of heat, and a lack of protection could spell disaster.