Google executive Alan Eustace broke the sound barrier and set several skydiving records over the southern New Mexico desert early Friday after taking a big leap from the edge of space.
Eustace’s supersonic jump was part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corp. and its Stratospheric Explorer team
The technology that has gone into developing the balloon, the spacesuit and the other systems that were used in Friday’s launch will be used to advance commercial space flight, namely efforts by Arizona-based World View Enterprises to take paying tourists up in a high-altitude balloon and luxury capsule starting in late 2016.
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As more people head into the stratosphere, the spacesuits could be adapted for emergency rescues or other scientific endeavours, officials said.
After nearly three years of intense planning, development and training, Eustace began his ascent via a high-altitude, helium-filled balloon just as the sun was rising. It took him more than two hours to hit an altitude of 1,35,890 feet, when he separated himself from the balloon and started plummeting back to earth. Wearing his specially designed spacesuit, Eustace hit a top velocity of 1,322 km/hr during a free fall that lasted four-and-a-half minutes.
The supersonic skydive happened with little fanfare, out of the media spotlight, unlike the 2012 attempt by daredevil Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team.
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