'14 Minutes from Earth' Highlights Perils of Death-Defying Skydive

A brand new documentary chronicles the years-long journey of former Google govt Alan Eustace to finish the highest-altitude skydive in historical past.

On Oct. 24, 2014, Eustace rode a helium-filled balloon to an altitude of greater than 25 miles (40 kilometers) above New Mexico — about 18 miles (29 km) above the standard cruising altitude of economic airliners. Eustace then pulled a chord that separated him from the balloon and despatched him plummeting (safely) again to Earth. 

What motivated a 57-year-old tech govt with a spouse and two younger kids to threat his life on such a mission? The brand new film "14 Minutes from Earth" offers some perception into Eustace's motivations, however primarily paperwork the unimaginable engineering problem of constructing a go well with that may defend Eustace throughout his death-defying dive. [Record-Breaking Supersonic Skydive from 'Near-Space' in Photos]

Into the stratosphere

"The concept of being above the Earth's ambiance … seeing the blackness of area, the curve of the Earth — I imply, that is bought to be one thing that every one [Space.com] followers have dreamed about, fantasized about," Eustace informed Area.com in an interview. He mentioned that, rising up through the Apollo period, he additionally harbored fantasies of exploring the area above Earth. 

Eustace exudes a gentle, agreeable demeanor, however because the film illustrates, beneath that exterior is an engineer who thrives on being challenged. He additionally skydives as a interest, and has accomplished greater than 500 jumps in his life —endeavors that seem to mirror his nerves of metal. [Watch Alan Eustace Leap from 135,000 Feet (Video)]

In 2010, Eustace had the concept to make a go well with that may enable human beings to discover high-altitude areas of Earth's ambiance the way in which scuba divers discover the depths of the ocean. Identical to within the ocean, human exploration is proscribed by bodily obstacles, not an absence of braveness.

Earth's ambiance is split into layers. The troposphere extends from the bottom to about 7 miles (11 km) up. The stratosphere, which extends from the highest of the troposphere to about 31 miles (50 km) up, is the area that Eustace needs to speak in confidence to exploration. 

There are a lot of options of the stratosphere that might hurt a human: little or no oxygen, low atmospheric stress and below-freezing temperatures. An individual touring from the bottom to the stratosphere and again to the bottom in a matter of minutes additionally must be shielded from the fast modifications in temperature and air stress, in addition to the extreme velocity and air friction.

To deal with these challenges, Eustace employed Paragon Area Growth Corp. to guide a undertaking he dubbed the Stratospheric Explorer (StratEx). The spacesuit producer ILC Dover was introduced in as one other companion within the undertaking. As soon as the workforce was assembled, it took them 18 months to arrange Eustace for his historic leap.

Alan Eustace is available in for a touchdown in a go well with engineered to let people fall to Earth from unprecedented altitudes.

Credit score: Paragon Area Growth Company®

Defying dying

The brand new movie paints a gorgeous portrayal of the engineering challenges of constructing a completely new expertise from scratch. Throughout the first take a look at flight from an altitude of 14,000 toes (four,300 meters) — a typical peak for leisure skydiving — so many issues went flawed, it is a marvel Eustace survived. 

The workforce hadn't absolutely anticipated Eustace's restricted vary of movement within the go well with, which meant he virtually could not deploy his parachute, after which could not steer it. He survived the autumn however landed miles away from the touchdown vary, in the midst of the desert. That may have been effective, besides that when he exited the aircraft, the go well with's communications and GPS antenna broke off as he handed by the door, so the workforce could not discuss to him and could not find him. Fortunately, a army helicopter was within the space and noticed Eustace's bright-orange parachute from the air. 

"[The first jump] served the main function of going, 'Oh my God! We're truly placing a human in a spacesuit — and actual [stuff] can go flawed, and we might kill somebody," Jane Poynter, one of many founders of Paragon, mentioned within the movie.

One other drawback that arose throughout that first flight was that Eustace was spinning and could not cease himself. Spinning may cause jumpers to lose consciousness or depart them too disoriented to open their parachute on the proper time. In 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner broke the file for the highest-altitude skydive when he leaped from a peak of practically 128,000 toes (39,000 m), or greater than 24 miles (38 km). (Eustace added greater than a mile to that file, leaping from an altitude of 135,890 toes, or 41,419 m.) Baumgartner additionally skilled intense, uncontrollable spinning through the first a part of his dive, and it practically killed him. After his first flight, Eustace's workforce at Paragon added extra options to the go well with that had been designed to cease him from spinning through the fall. 

At instances, the obstacles of the mission solely appeared to develop bigger, and the challenges solely appeared to develop in quantity. However Eustace's dedication appeared unwavering. Whereas dealing with life-threatening conditions and big technical challenges, Eustace continued to exude a optimistic angle — even pleasure.

"Alan undoubtedly has a character [such that] he favored this as a result of it was so troublesome," Jared Leidich, an engineer with Paragon, mentioned within the movie. "And the tougher it bought, the cooler he thought it was."

That is to not say Eustace was unaware of the chance he was taking. Towards the top of the movie, the chance of the undertaking is thrown into sharp reduction through the authentic launch date for Eustace's record-setting leap. Simply earlier than liftoff, a system on the balloon catches fireplace on the runway, ruining the balloon and aborting the launch. Had the hearth began throughout flight, it might have been deadly. 

"It grew to become extremely actual and private when Alan is saying, 'OK, I've organized for this airplane; if something goes flawed, the airplane goes to get [Eustace's wife] Kathy and produce her out,'" Poynter mentioned. "And I am like, 'Please, God, make it so I haven't got to name this aircraft.'"

Leap of religion

By the point the workforce was prepared for Eustace to make his record-setting leap, the StratEx workforce had performed dozens of security assessments and lots of of dry runs, and put in tens of 1000's of engineering hours. 

Although viewers of the movie know the result of the leap, it's nonetheless nerve-racking to look at the ultimate preparation. The movie has established that operating all of the assessments on this planet would not all the time put together you for the issues that may go flawed through the full execution of a system. 

The movie's title, "14 Minutes from Earth," refers back to the length of Eustace's record-setting free fall. A typical skydive from 14,000 toes equates to about 60 seconds of free fall, and about 5 to 7 minutes of coasting after the parachute is deployed. On the way in which down, he reached a prime velocity of 822 mph (1,322 km/h), breaking by the sound barrier and making a sonic growth that could possibly be heard on the bottom. As soon as Eustace hit the bottom (after deploying his parachute later than anticipated), everybody within the management room waited with bated breath till the extraction workforce referred to as out over the radio, "inexperienced extraction," that means Eustace was unhurt. 

"14 Minutes from Earth" is an in depth story about overcoming an unimaginable engineering problem within the title of area exploration and the deep human want to push boundaries. It's out there for digital obtain beginning immediately (Nov. 19) on video on demand companies like Amazon, iTunes and others. Video extras, together with the uncut video from Eustace's go well with digital camera throughout his descent, are included on the iTunes model. 

Comply with Calla Cofield @callacofield. Comply with us @Spacedotcom, Fb and Google+. Unique article on Area.com.

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