Google executive Alan Eustace has broken the sound barrier and set several skydiving records over the southern New Mexico desert after taking a big leap from the edge of space.
Eustace jumped from over 130,000ft in a specially designed spacesuit, beating the mark set by the Austrian Felix Baumgartner in 2012. Eustace hit a top speed of 822mph during a freefall that lasted four-and-a-half minutes.
The supersonic jump was part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corp and its Stratospheric Explorer team, which has been working secretly for years to develop a self-contained commercial spacesuit that would allow people to explore some 20 miles above the Earth’s surface.
The technology that has gone into developing the balloon, the spacesuit and the other systems that were used in Friday’s launch will be used to advance commercial spaceflight, namely efforts by Arizona-based World View Enterprises to take paying tourists up in a high-altitude balloon and luxury capsule starting in late 2016.
As more people head into the stratosphere, the spacesuits could be adapted for emergency rescues or other scientific endeavours, officials said.
After nearly three years of intense planning, development and training, Eustace began his ascent via a high-altitude, helium-filled balloon just as the sun was rising.
It took more than two hours to hit an altitude of 135,890 feet (41,419 metres), from which he separated himself from the balloon and started plummeting back to Earth.
Jim Hayhurst, director of competition at the United States Parachute Association, was the jump’s official observer. He said Eustace deployed a drogue parachute that gave him incredible stability and control despite the massive Mach 1.23 speed reached during the freefall.
Eustace did not feel it when he broke the sound barrier, but the ground crew certainly heard the resulting sonic boom, Hayhurst said.
“He just said it was a fabulous view. He was thrilled,” Hayhurst said of his conversation with Eustace after he landed.
The supersonic skydive happened with little fanfare, out of the media spotlight, unlike the 2012 attempt by daredevil Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team.
Baumgartner, who was taken aloft in a capsule with the help of millions of dollars in sponsorships, had set the previous altitude record by jumping from 128,100 feet (39,045 meters).
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