Yeah, I just read it, too. About 7500’ higher than the 128,000’ made last year.
The took the stealth route: no corporate sponsors or hype. A private group put qualified people and resources together to break the record.
Some of the comments I read claimed that Baumgartner went on to discourage future space exploration and said it was more important to take care of things on Earth first.
That is not an exact quote.