Too big to rely on air bags to cushion its fall as with previous Mars landers, Curiosity landed through an automated system of high-speed maneuvers, a supersonic parachute, eight retro-rockets and a set of "sky-crane" tethers that lowered the vehicle gently the last few feet to the ground.

WSJ: NASA's Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars

In 1999, he set the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia.

BBC: Profile: Skydiver Felix Baumgartner