Alan Eustace Jumps From Stratosphere.

durandal01

Alan Eustace, senior VP at Google, breaks Felix Baumgartner's record in self financed jump.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/science/alan-eustace-jumps-from-stratosphere-breaking-felix-baumgartners-world-record.html?_r=0
It must be nice to be rich and not have to pander to sponsors.

folbotcar

How on Earth (or in space) did they manage to keep it a secret?

BonkeyDonker

folbotcar wrote: »

How on Earth (or in space) did they manage to keep it a secret?

He is a Google VP........ :eek:

jmayo

Is it just me or does senior VP at Google breaks altitude skydive record just sound wrong.

Tenger

BonkeyDonker wrote: »

He is a Google VP........ :eek:

They were able to cripple the Google search algorithims

durandal01

Tenger wrote: »

They were able to cripple the Google search algorithims

I suppose that's possible.
The fact that he's richer than Croesus and he doesn't have Red Bull gobbing off about the project morning, noon and night also helps.

Dum_Dum

Vanity project for a member of the one percent.

ProfessorPlum

And fair play to him. He didn't get where is is by scratching his arse. And he's obviously got the balls.

Turbulent Bill

ProfessorPlum wrote: »

And fair play to him. He didn't get where is is by scratching his arse. And he's obviously got the balls.

+1, thought it was great to see a privateer breaking a record like this. I especially like the low-key approach, just get the record and don't over-hype it.

Interesting to see how these records are evolving. Originally it was all privateers, then the levels got so high that only the military or NASA could break them. The rise in commercial space travel and government cutbacks means that some of these can be done by (very rich) individuals or companies again.

durandal01

ProfessorPlum wrote: »

And fair play to him. He didn't get where is is by scratching his arse. And he's obviously got the balls.

+1 here too.
The article mentions he's a veteran parachutist so he has some idea about what he's doing.
Not like the self loathing cargo here, http://aircraft.wikia.com/wiki/Virgin_Atlantic_Flyer
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Branson's first spin in a balloon was just a few weeks beforehand, I'm open to refutation on this though.

man98

Maybe it was too low key? The man strikes me as a bit cocky, breaking it to show his wealth thiugh…

the_monkey

Pisses me off the way they go on about him not needing sponsors like Felix Baumgartner did - yeah well Felix Baumgartner doesn't have a personal wealth of 100m + ....


Just Google throwing their weight around as usual ... bullies..

the_monkey

man98 wrote: »

Maybe it was too low key? The man strikes me as a bit cocky, breaking it to show his wealth thiugh…

he strikes me as a complete nob end ..

owenc

That is horrible. Never

expectationlost

seem to be part of this plan to start balloon rides into upper atmosphere for tourism etc
started reading about Taber MacCallum and Biosphere 2, some rich people can indulge in their interests.

Turbulent Bill

I'm amazed at the negativity on this thread. Guy breaks an aviation record, and the reaction here is to criticise his wealth and personality...

A Dub in Glasgo

The video does not look as good as the Felix one but fair fcuks to the guy. I wish I was in his position!

FWVT

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

I'm amazed at the negativity on this thread. Guy breaks an aviation record, and the reaction here is to criticise his wealth and personality...

It's called begrudgery