Published in News

Google boss falls from a great height

by on27 October 2014

Has parachute

Google senior vice president Alan Eustace just beat the world record for highest-altitude space jump by flinging himself out of a helium-filled balloon 135,908 feet to the top of the stratosphere.

He plunged toward the earth at speeds that peaked at more than 800 miles per hour and observers on the ground heard a small sonic boom.

Eustace says he did not hear or feel it but then he was probably worried a little more about doing backflips in the air before his small parachute righted him.

After four-and-a-half minutes, he opened his main parachute, eventually landing 70 miles from the launch site.

He said it was amazing because you could see the darkness of space and you could see the layers of atmosphere.

The previous altitude record was set by Austrian Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from 128,100 feet in 2012 as a stunt for Red Bull.

Eustace, is 57 and has been at Google since 2002, had been planning the jump in secret for nearly three years and working with a small group of technologists specializing in spacesuit design, life-support systems, and parachute and balloon technology.

Eustace's suit did not have a cooling system, so he barely moved on his ascent to keep from over-heating and had to acknowledge communications from ground controllers by slightly moving one of his legs.

Google offered to fund the flight, but Eustace said no because he did not want it to appear like a sponsored thing.

 

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