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Winds blamed as attempt to break free-fall record is aborted

LOS ANGELES (MCT) — After squeezing into a white spacesuit and helmet, daredevil Felix Baumgartner entered a pressurized capsule and waited to be taken to 120,000 feet above New Mexico for a leap into history.

But as the desert winds picked up to 17 mph, the attempt to break the world’s free-fall record was scrubbed Tuesday afternoon. Officials had said that an attempt at the feat, the longest and fastest free fall, can be made only if winds on the ground are around 2 mph, but have not decided when to try again.

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