Courtesy of Red Bull Stratos

Earlier this year, Astounde speculated that space skydiving could be the next frontier in extreme sports. If that’s going to be the case, then today represents the biggest hurdle and largest milestone towards that end.

Today, in an event sponsored by Red Bull (who else?), Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner is set to hurdle himself towards the earth from over 20 miles up, breaking the speed of sound in the process.

Skydiving is quite the rush. There’s a certain lemming-like quality to free falling thousands of feet towards the Earth with only fabric encased in a backpack to stop you from a date with gravity. The act of skydiving and the idea of it becoming a sport would have seemed absurd just 100 years ago, when we could barely even get airborne. Now skydiving is the ultimate thrill. Unfortunately he feeling of your stomach up in your throat is only pleasurable for so long, and you’re left looking for that next thrill. In this case, jumping from heights that would make your blood boil. Is space skydiving the extreme sport of the future?