Felix Baumgartner is a rock star. At least, he is to the bright-eyed group of tween boys crowding his Red Bull Stratos exhibit at the Smithsonian, the pieces of which are now set to become part of the museum's permanent collection. Baumgartner could also probably be an action movie star. He's brimming with braggadocio in that way only men who've dared and triumphed over the impossible can be; ruggedly handsome in a way you wouldn't expect from a daredevil. And he's also very stylish.
Baumgartner refers to himself as the "fastest man in the sky," and the distinction is well-earned. In October of 2012, the Austrian stepped out from a custom-made space capsule 24 miles high and space dove toward terra firma, breaking the sound barrier along the way. As you might imagine, a free fall from the edge of space is not without significant risks. "I heard a lot of nightmare stories about flat spinning," he told me. "Which, if it happens too fast, you're facing too many RPMs; you cannot stop that spin anymore. And, at a certain point, the blood has only one way to leave your body and that's through ... your eyeballs. That means you're gonna die."
