[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrIxH6DToXQ]

The skydiver is mere minutes away from skydiving from a world-record 23 miles up:

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner is making his ascent to the edge of space, where he plans to jump into the biggest free fall of all time.

In a capsule hanging from a helium balloon, Baumgartner is working his way to 120,000 feet (about 23 miles) — more than three times the cruising altitude of the average airliner.

With nothing but a space suit, helmet and parachute, Baumgartner hopes to be the first person to break the sound barrier without the protection of a vehicle.

The thin air at that height provides so little resistance that after just 40 seconds, he is expected to be free falling faster than 690 miles per hour.