Austrian adventurer Felix Baumgartner has been frustrated in his attempt to make the highest ever skydive.
Unfavourable winds at Roswell, New Mexico, have prevented the
launch of the helium balloon that was to take him to more than
120,000ft (36.5km).Meteorologists say Thursday now looks to be next best day for a record bid.
Baumgartner - famous for jumping off skyscrapers - is hoping to become the first human to break the sound barrier unaided by a vehicle.
Because of the rarity of the atmosphere at 120,000ft, he would accelerate rapidly once he stepped out of his balloon's capsule.
Calculations suggest he could achieve Mach 1 - thought to be around 690mph (1,110km/h) at the target altitude - within 40 seconds.
But this will all have to wait for another day.
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- Jonathan Amos @BBCAmos Capsule door closed momentarily on Felix Baumgartner. Now it's open again. Still no inflation. #livejump We're pushing deep now into window.
- Jonathan Amos @BBCAmos Does this mean they think the prospect of favourable winds will not now materialise? #livejump We sit and wait.
- Jonathan Amos @BBCAmos Baumgartner now sitting calm in his capsule. Getting news that although permission to inflate was given, the ground team held off #livejump
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Baumgartner's 30 million cu ft (850,000 cu m) polyethylene balloon has very strict launch requirements.
Wind speeds from the ground up to about 800ft (250m) must not
exceed 3mph (5km/h), or there is a chance the envelope could shred as
the support team try to release it and the capsule.And although Tuesday morning's conditions at the surface were dead calm, the winds at times were just too gusty.
Felix Baumgartner got as far as climbing into his capsule before the mission was postponed.
The current weather window for this year probably extends for another month. Beyond that and the team will likely have to return next year.
Baumgartner is trying to topple records that have stood for more than 50 years.
The previous highest skydive was made by retired US Air Force Col Joe Kittinger, who leapt from a helium envelope in 1960. His altitude was 102,800ft (31.3km).
The adventurer first discussed seriously the idea of taking on the challenge in 2005.
Since then, he has had to battle technical and budgetary setbacks to make it happen.
What he is trying to is extremely dangerous.
At an altitude of 120,000ft (36.5km), the air pressure is less than 2% of what it is at sea level, and it is impossible to breathe without an oxygen supply.
Others who have tried to break the records for the highest, fastest and longest freefalls have lost their lives in the process.
Baumgartner's team has built him a special pressurised capsule to protect him on the way up, and for his descent he will wear a next generation, full pressure suit made by the same company that prepares the flight suits of astronauts.
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Although the jump has the appearance of another Baumgartner stunt, his team has stressed its high scientific relevance.
The researchers on the Red Bull Stratos project say it has
already provided invaluable data for the development of
high-performance, high-altitude parachute systems, and that the lessons
learned will inform the development of new ideas for emergency
evacuation from vehicles, such as spacecraft, passing through the
stratosphere. Nasa and its spacecraft manufacturers have asked to be kept informed.
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