Skydiving Altitude Record Shattered

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Following a nearly three-year secret development program, computer scientist Alan Eustace today shattered the world skydiving record with a jump from 135,890 feet, a supersonic free fall and a safe landing 70 miles from his departure point at Roswell, New Mexico. The previous record skydive was from 128,100 feet-it was set by Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner during a highly publicized event two years ago. Eustace, 57, is a senior vice president at Google and has been described as an engineer with a deep passion for details and as well as a team-oriented leader. Forgoing a capsule for the trip aloft and the millions in sponsorship money used by Baumgartner, Eustace worked with scientists with expertise in spacesuit design, life support systems, balloons and parachutes to create a system that suspended him in a spacesuit as he was carried up to nearly the top of the stratosphere.

On a comparative shoestring budget, Eustace used GoPro cameras to record the experience and an off-the-shelf radio for contact with his ground crew. An explosive squib allowed Eustace to release himself from the helium balloon. During his free fall Eustace reached a maximum speed of 822 MPH and generated a sonic boom that was heard on the ground. His technical team also designed a carbon-fiber device that prevented Eustace from becoming entangled in his parachute should he not be stabilized when he deployed the parachute. The United States Parachute Association’s director of competition, James Hayhust, verified the record and said the jump was “. . . legitimate science. I think they’re putting a little lookout tower at the edge of space that the common man can share.”

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