“A skydiver has made history by smashing the world record for the highest skydive after leaping from 128,097ft (39,044m). Daredevil Felix Baumgartner ascended to the edge of space in a pressurised capsule suspended beneath a giant helium balloon. He then jumped out, freefalling for four minutes and 19 seconds before opening his parachute”.

Photo: Baumgartner celebrates after successfully completing the jump. (Photo by Balazs Gardi/Red Bull Stratos)

John Gourley leans out of the cab of Goliath, one of Europe's largest cranes on September 20, 2011 in Rosyth, Scotland. The crane will begin the assembly of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers later this week, when it lifts the first section of the two deck high 8,000 tonne centre block, which includes a section of the flight deck. The lift will mark the start of the Rosyth shipyards assembly of the first of two 65,000 tonne vessels the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

With the humpback calving season drawing to a close, here’s a look at some of Rita Kluge’s distinctive marine photos from the south Pacific. The Sydney-based photographer fell in love with whales after witnessing southern rights from the New South Wales coastline as they travelled to and from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic. She has since been to Tonga, where humpbacks breed and calf in winter months, to photograph them in the water. (Photo by Rita Kluge/The Guardian)

Joshua Hoffine, based in Kansas City, Mo., and a self-proclaimed “Horror Photographer”, is interested in the psychology of fear. In his project “After Dark, My Sweet”, Hoffine’s surreal and staged images render these fears visible with the “visual grammar of a child”. Through elaborate sets, costumes, makeup and fog machines, Hoffine’s children act out these terrifying scenes in front of his camera. Here: “Basement”. (Photo by Joshua Hoffine/The Washington Post)

A view of the facade of a house in the village of Cherevkovo, Arkhangelsk region, Russia, July 12, 2016. Traditional wooden houses, many featuring exquisite carvings and craftsmanship, are falling into decay across Russia because of neglect, lack of funds and an exodus from the countryside to the cities. Urbanisation and a low birth rate are emptying out the countryside, and residents and authorities are often largely indifferent towards the historical value of their properties. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A UFO enthusiast who found himself locked in the iconic Roswell museum has shared the pictures he took with aliens to pass the time. Chris Burton, from the U.K., had dreamed of visiting Roswell, N.M., since he was a child but was stunned when he found himself locked in the International UFO Museum and Research Center during a recent trip. The 42-year-old used the unique opportunity to get interactive with the usually out of bounds exhibits and set up some funny snaps with the extraterrestrials – posing for a beer with one alien and taking a nap with another. (Photo by Chris Burton/Caters News Agency)

This fascinating photo series looks at the bleak isolation of Chernobyl as never before. Employing infrared filters, photographer Vladimir Mitgutin is able to bring out details of decay – an abandoned bus, a radar system, an amusement park, a doll, a sports hall, a piano – frozen in time. Here: Simon – a friendly fox, who often approaches tourists in the exclusion zone, asking for food. (Photo by Vladimir Mitgutin/Caters News Agency)