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I leapt from the stratosphere. Here's how I did it

1,757,299 views |

Alan Eustace |

TED2015

• March 2015

On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace donned a custom-built, 235-pound spacesuit, attached himself to a weather balloon, and rose above 135,000 feet, from which point he dove to Earth, breaking both the sound barrier and previous records for high-altitude jumps. Hear his story of how -- and why.

On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace donned a custom-built, 235-pound spacesuit, attached himself to a weather balloon, and rose above 135,000 feet, from which point he dove to Earth, breaking both the sound barrier and previous records for high-altitude jumps. Hear his story of how -- and why.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Alan Eustace

Stratospheric explorer

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Alan Eustace leapt to Earth from the edge of the stratosphere wearing only a spacesuit, shattering skydiving records and potentially revolutionizing the commercial space industry.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.