The FreeFly Astronaut Project will forgo the balloon-lift method utilised by the current record holders , Felix Baumgartner with Red Bull Stratos ( highest skydive ) and Joe Kittinger with Project Excelsior ( longest freefall ) . Instead , it will make use of specially modified InterOrbital Systems SR 145 rockets to propel Team Synergy Moon test pilot and astronaut-in-training Olav Zipser to increasingly higher altitudes ( higher than any manned balloon can possibly go ) . At those high altitudes , Zipser will employ the FreeFly techniques — developed and tested over his 26-year , 21,000-jump skydiving career — to control his descent to Earth
Red Bull Stratos
Red Bull Stratos
Olav Zipser