Red Bull Stratos team

Baumgartner's "mission to the edge of space" is backed by energy drinks maker Red Bull. Among the notable members of the Red Bull Stratos team are, from left, meteorologist Don Day, U.S. Air Force Col. (ret.) Joe Kittinger, technical project director Art Thompson, and high-performance director Andy Walshe.

Kittinger, who's serving as an adviser to Baumgartner, knows a little something about this rare kind of skydive. In August 1960, he jumped from 102,800 feet (19.5 miles) and hit a top speed of about 614 mph, at at time when the Pentagon and the still very young NASA were trying to get a handle on how humans would be affected by high-altitude atmospheric flight and space travel.