Alan Eustace set a new high-altitude skydiving record, previously held by Felix Baumgartner. The skydiver jumped from over 135,000 feet, on October 24.
Eustace is the vice president of knowledge for search engine and technology giant Google. He began his journey by climbing aboard a high-altitude balloon that would bring him to the edge of space, in just a little over two hours.
Little fanfare or media attention followed the executive as he set the record. This was in clear contrast to Baumgartner, who was followed by media before, during and after his spectacular jump. Google executives offered to assist Eustace in promoting the event, but the skydiver wanted to avoid the spotlight.
"A @Google executive, Alan Eustace, now has highest free-fall parachute jump record: 136,362 ft. @markoff piece shortly," the New York Times wrote on Twitter, announcing the event.
Felix Baumgartner made his leap from an altitude of 127,852 feet, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without a vehicle.
Paragon Space Development Corporation designed and manufactured a life-support suit for Eustace which provided the skydiver with oxygen, as well as protected him from the elements.
André-Jacques Garnerin was the first person to ever make a parachute jump, using a large piece of canvas attached to a small basket. This vehicle was carried into the air by a hot air balloon. This first skydiver would put on show in Paris, starting in 1797. The following year, he created controversy around France when he announced he would be bringing a woman aboard a balloon.
Leslie Irvin became the first person to use a ripcord to open a parachute in 1919, soon after the end of the First World War. The technology was quickly adapted for pilots and aircraft crew in military aircraft.
Parachuting is now a recreational sport, with large numbers of avid followers. While some people jump solo, others take part in tandem jumps, tethered to another skydiver. Chip Bowlin and Kristine Gould hold the record for the greatest number of tandem jumps in a 24-hour period, at 103, a feat they accomplished in 2009.
In February 2006, a total of 400 people made a jump together, setting a new record for the greatest number of divers in a single leap. During Jump for the Cause, 181 women made a single leap together, from nine airplanes in 1999, becoming the largest all-female group of skydivers.
Don Kellner has taken the greatest number of skydives, over 40,000. Cheryl Stearns has jumped 15,600 times, giving her the record for women.
The youngest skydiver on record was 5-year-old Erin Hogan, and the oldest was Frank Moody, who leaped from an airplane in 2004, at the age of 101.
GoPro cameras were carried by Alan Eustace, although no footage of the jump has yet been made available to the public.
