Google Executive Breaks Record With Near-Space Skydive

Google Executive Alan Eustace descends from his record-breaking jump. (Credit: Paragon)

Two years ago this month, Felix Baumgartner broke a record with his near-space skydive in which he broke the sound barrier.

Alan Eustace, a Vice-President of Knowledge at Google Google, just broke it.

The funny thing is, though, is that in a project nearly three years in the making, it wasnt until the last minute that anyone knew he was going to.

As we were watching him go up today, somebody asked us what the record was, Paragon Space Development CEO Grant Anderson told me. We had to look it up! It was cool to break the record, but frankly it was not in the forefront of our minds at all.

Eustace first approached Paragon, which specializes in developing life support equipment for extreme environments, including space, in December of 2011. The goal apart from the fun of the stunt itself was to develop technologies that could be useful for more human exploration of the stratosphere and beyond.

The day of the flight began with a four-hour stint in an oxygen chamber, where Eustace had the nitrogen in his lung and tissues slowly washed out. Next Next up, he was prepared in the space suit, which is similar in design and material to the spacesuits used by astronauts on the International Space Station. (If it looks funny in the photos, thats because the life support system is on the front instead of the back in order to accommodate the parachute.

The spacesuit itself was absolutely necessary at the altitude Eustace flew to, the atmosphere is so thin that a human cant breathe. Also, the pressure is so low that even at the cool temperatures, the fluids in the body will begin to boil

The balloon that took Eustace to the stratosphere was then inflated with helium, and Eustace was hooked up in place to it. Unlike Felix Baumgartner, Eustace wasnt in a capsule. He was directly attached to a module held by the balloon.

Alan Eustace ascending to the stratosphere. (Credit: Paragon Space Development)

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Google Executive Breaks Record With Near-Space Skydive