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Alan Eustace
As part of the annual Vice Adm. Donald D. Engen Flight Jacket Night lecture series, engineer and stratospheric explorer Alan Eustace spoke about his record-breaking space jump. Eustace and the StratEx team set three new world records: highest exit altitude at 41,422 meters (135,899 feet), longest distance of fall with drogue at 37,623 meters (123,435 feet), and highest vertical speed with drogue 1,320 km/hr (820 mph). Climbing at about 305-meters (1,000-feet) a minute, it took 2.5 hours to reach his top altitude. He was safely back on the ground just 15 minutes after cutting loose from the balloon. Eustace retired as Senior Vice President of Knowledge in April 2015 after 13 years with Google.