Senior Google Executive, Dr. Alan Eustace, has broken Felix Baumgartner’s world record for highest free-fall parachute jump.
Eustace broke the record to relatively little fanfare when compared to Baumgartner’s jump which was streaming live on the internet and watched all over the world.
The record jump was 135,908 feet by Eustace, whose official title at Google is the Senior Vice President of Knowledge.
Incredibly, a helium-filled balloon floated Eustace more than 25 miles above the ground to the top of the stratosphere where he then cut himself loose and rocketed toward the earth at speeds upwards of 800 miles per hour!
The 57-year-old Eustace has reportedly been secretly working on all aspects of the record breaking jump for approximately 3 years before making the plunge today.
Eustace told the New York Times, “It was beautiful. You could see the darkness of space and you could see the layers of atmosphere, which I’ve never seen before.”
The previous altitude record was set by Austrian Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from 128,100 feet.
