Google executive sets new skydive record

An executive from Google has set a new skydiving record by jumping successfully from near the top of the stratosphere - about 135,000 feet, or 41,000 metres high, breaking the 2012 record by Austrian Felix Baumgartner.

Eustace was carried by a large helium balloon from New Mexico to over 40km above the earth and the 57-year-old leapt out in a specially-designed space suit, reaching speeds of more than 1,300km/h.

He exceeded the speed of sound, setting off a small sonic boom, and set several skydiving records in the process.

Eustace, who is a "senior vice president of knowledge" at Google, conducted the dive as part of a project allowing manned exploration of the stratosphere above 100,000 feet.

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.

Eustace's free-fall into the atmosphere lasted about five minutes, and he deployed his parachute at around 18,000 feet "and floated gently to the ground," the statement said.

"Within four hours of launch, Alan arrived at the launch site where the team and guests toasted his achievement and safe return."

The New York Times, which first reported the news, quoted Eustace as saying, "It was amazing. It was beautiful. You could see the darkness of space and you could see the layers of atmosphere, which I had never seen before."

The Times said that Eustace was propelled from the module with a small explosive charge, sending him travelling briefly at supersonic speeds, creating a sonic boom heard by observers on the ground.

According to Paragon, the system has wide-ranging applications for the study of the science of the stratosphere.

These include the "development of means for spaceship crew egress, the study of dynamics of bodies at Mach 1, new high altitude aircraft suits, and setting of records for space diving, sailplaning and ballooning."

Without special equipment, humans cannot live at that altitude, according to Paragon, which says that "besides being unable to breath, exposure to the vacuum of space will cause fluids in the body to boil."

The space suit is similar to those used for the Apollo missions and on the International Space Station, the company said.

The missions by Eustace and Baumgartner offer hope for rescue and evacuation from troubled spacecraft. The US space shuttle was fitted with a crew evacuation system after the 1986 Challenger disaster.

The private firm World View Experience announced that it had obtained the rights to offer these dives for "near space" tourism and research.

For $75,000, adventurers can duplicate the experience inside a "luxury capsule" complete with bar and lavatory and in-flight Internet access.