Google's Alan Eustace beats Baumgartner's skydiving record

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="story-header" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 2.461em; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px -160px 13px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; width: 623px;"> Google's Alan Eustace beats Baumgartner's skydiving record</h1> <div> <br /></div> <div> <div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> A senior Google vice president, Alan Eustace, has broken the world altitude record for a parachute jump set in 2012 by Austrian Felix Baumgartner.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Mr Eustace was carried by a large helium balloon from New Mexico to over 40km (25 miles) above the earth.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> The 57-year-old leapt out in a specially-designed space suit, reaching speeds of more than 1,300km/h.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> He exceeded the speed of sound, setting off a small sonic boom, and set several skydiving records in the process.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> The dive was part of a project led by <a href="http://www.paragonsdc.com/stratex/#six" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;">Paragon Space Development Corporation</a>, aimed at the exploration of the stratosphere above 100,000 feet (30,480 metres).</div> <span class="cross-head" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.231em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Years of preparation</span><div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Mr Eustace successfully jumped from near the top of the stratosphere at an altitude of 135,890 feet at 09:09 local time (16:00 GMT), the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) confirmed on Friday.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> The previous record was set by Mr Baumgartner two years ago, after he jumped from a height of nearly 128,000 feet.</div> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <img alt="Alan Eustace preparing for skydive in New Mexico on 24 October 2014" height="351" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78526000/jpg/_78526386_263.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="624" /><span style="display: block; width: 624px;">Mr Eustace set off from an abandoned air field in New Mexico early on Friday morning</span></div> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <img alt="Alan Eustace preparing for skydive in New Mexico on 24 October 2014" height="351" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78526000/jpg/_78526460_284.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="624" /><span style="display: block; width: 624px;">He wore a self-contained commercial space suit enabling him to explore the stratosphere</span></div> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <img alt="Google Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace speaks during the grand opening of Google Kirkland on 28 October 2009 in Kirkland, Washington. " height="351" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78526000/jpg/_78526383_92430315.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="624" /><span style="display: block; width: 624px;">Alan Eustace is Google's senior vice president of knowledge</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> Mr Eustace also broke the world records for vertical speed reached during freefall with a peak velocity of 1,321km/h (822 mph) and total freefall distance of 123,414 feet - lasting four minutes and 27 seconds.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> He set off from a runway in Roswell, New Mexico, at 07:00 connected to a balloon module, which carried him for two hours and seven minutes to his target altitude.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> The Google executive - who is also a veteran pilot and parachutist - had been planning this jump for several years, working in secret with a small group of people trained in parachute and balloon technology, says the BBC's David Willis in Los Angeles.</div> <div class="caption full-width" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #505050; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;"> <img alt="Balloon module in New Mexico on 24 October 2014" height="549" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78526000/jpg/_78526380_jmh_7478.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="549" /><span style="display: block; width: 549px;">The Google executive was carried into the stratosphere using balloon technology</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> But, our correspondent adds, Mr Eustace completed it without the aid of sponsorship, and with considerably less fanfare than the previous record holder, Felix Baumgartner, whose jump from the edge of space was streamed live over the internet two years ago.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> "It was amazing," Mr Eustace was quoted by the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/science/alan-eustace-jumps-from-stratosphere-breaking-felix-baumgartners-world-record.html?_r=0" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;">New York Times </a>as saying.</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> "It was beautiful. You could see the darkness of space and you could see the layers of atmosphere, which I had never seen before."</div> <div style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;"> He told the newspaper that he did not feel or hear the sonic boom as he passed the speed of sound, although it was heard by observers on the ground.</div> </div> </div>

Google's Alan Eustace beats Baumgartner's skydiving record

Google's Alan Eustace beats Baumgartner's skydiving record A senior Google vice president, Alan Eustace, has broken the world...

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