A Google executive has broken a world record by parachute jumping from the earth's stratosphere - falling over 25 miles in 15 minutes at a top speed of 822 miles per hour on Friday, October 24, 2014. [Photo: Imagine China]
Google executive Alan Eustace broke the sound barrier and set several skydiving records over the southern New Mexico desert early on Friday after taking a big leap from the edge of space.
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 more than two hours to hit an altitude of 135,890 feet (41,419 metres), at which point he separated himself from the balloon and started plummeting back to Earth.
Wearing his specially designed spacesuit, Eustace hit a top velocity of 822 miles per hour (1,322 kph) during a freefall that lasted four-and-a-half minutes and during which the Google senior vice-president for knowledge reached a massive Mach 1.23 speed.
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.
Baumgartner, who was taken aloft in a capsule with the help of millions of dollars in sponsorships, had set the previous altitude record by jumping from 128,100 feet (39,045 metres).
Eustace's supersonic jump was part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corporation and its Stratospheric Explorer team, which has been working secretly for years to develop a self-contained commercial spacesuit that would allow people to explore some 20 miles (32 kilometres) above the Earth's surface.
Friday's success marked a major step forward in that effort, company officials said.
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 spaceflight, 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.
As more people head into the stratosphere, the spacesuits could be adapted for emergency rescues or other scientific endeavours, officials said.
