Jumping from a balloon flying at 18 miles above Earth, Felix Baumgartner has fallen at speeds of more than 500mph to train for the world's highest skydive.

The Austrian daredevil jumped from a pressurised capsule being carried by a helium-filled balloon, landing safely in a desert near Roswell, New Mexico.

"It's always been my dream, but it's so hard to accomplish today because it was hot inside. It was rough the last couple of days because we had no success and all these launches, because the weather was bad all the time, so almost no sleep. It was really, really tough to do it today," said Baumgartner.

The test parachute jump was the second for Baumgartner, who is on a quest to complete a record-breaking skydive from 120,000 feet in the coming weeks.

He also hopes to become the first man to break the speed of sound at 700 mph in a free fall.

In the next jump, the balloon carrying Baumgartner into the stratosphere will expand to the size of a small skyscraper as it rises.