Baumgartner's polyethylene balloon, thinner than a dry cleaner bag, held 859,000 m³ of helium.
Felix Baumgartner jumped from a balloon more than 39 kilometers above the Earth to become the first man to break the sound barrier in a freefall jump from the edge of space.
He reached a speed of 1,136 kilometres per hour before opening his parachute and landing.
A very large balloon is needed to carry the Red Bull Stratos capsule, which weighs nearly 3,000 lbs (1360 kg) to the stratosphere.
Very thin material is necessary to save weight. Despite the light weight of the polyethylene, there is so much of it (40 acres) in the balloon that uninflated it weighs 3,708 lbs (1682 kg).
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