Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian extreme adventurer who hurtled to earth from more than 24 miles high in 2012 and became the first human to break the sound barrier while free-falling, died on Thursday in a paragliding accident along the Adriatic coast in Italy. He was 56.

Felix Baumgartner made global headlines in 2012 when he jumped from the stratosphere and parachuted down to a landing in New Mexico.