If you want to know just how far skydiving has come in a relatively short time, consider this: When André-Jacques Garnerin, the French inventor of the frameless parachute, completed the first skydive ever, he jumped from a hot-air balloon hovering only 2,000 feet above Paris. That meant that 2,000 feet once stood as the highest skydive in the world.
By comparison, today we drop skydivers from 13,000 feet — and we tend to open our canopies around 3,500 feet.
But who holds the record for the highest skydive ever? That honor goes to the following gentlemen:
| Skydiver | Altitude Reached (ft) | Freefall Speed (mph) | Time in Freefall (min) |
| Alan Eustace | 135,890 ft | 822 mph | 4:27 |
| Felix Baumgartner | 127,852 ft | 844 mph | 4:19 |
| Joe Kittinger | 102,800 ft | 614 mph | 4:36 |
Pretty amazing that all three both still have world records! Let’s dive into the details.
Joseph Kittinger
Before we begin talking about Air Force officer Joseph Kittinger and his historic skydive in 1960, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the U.S. military’s huge contributions to skydiving. The military started experimenting with parachutes in the 1910s, and throughout the 20th century, it made massive strides in what was possible when jumping out of an airplane.
Today, military skydiving jumps — or HALO (high altitude, low opening) jumps — involve military members jumping from between 15,000 and 35,000 feet. Jumping from such heights requires dressing in cold-weather gear and spending about 30 minutes receiving oxygen before leaping from planes.
Some U.S. military members also take HAHO (high altitude, high opening) jumps that require them to leap from up to 40,000 feet. This is impressive, to say the least!
But back to Kittinger, who played a key role in Air Force research on high-altitude bailouts in the 1950s and 1960s. As part of it, he set the altitude record for the highest skydive in the world by completing a jump from 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960. It took him four minutes and 36 seconds to finish his freefall, and he achieved a top speed of 614 miles per hour before his parachute deployment at around 18,000 feet.
Amazingly, Kittinger’s record for the highest skydive in the world stood for over 50 years.
Felix Baumgartner & Red Bull Stratos
For a long time, it appeared as though Kittinger’s record for the world’s highest skydive might never be broken. But in the early 2010s, skydiver, BASE jumper, and all-around daredevil Felix Baumgartner announced he was teaming up with Red Bull to try to break it.
As part of the Red Bull Stratos project, Baumgartner planned to fill a helium balloon with about 180,000 cubic feet of helium that would eventually expand to nearly 30 million cubic feet as it traveled 24 miles up into the Earth’s stratosphere. Baumgartner also planned to wear a special suit to deal with the atmospheric pressure he would face during his stratospheric jump.
Baumgartner saw his plan through on October 14, 2012. He utilized a helium balloon to jump from 127,852 feet and become the first person to break the sound barrier without using a vehicle after hitting 844 miles per hour during his supersonic descent. His freefall duration was four minutes and 19 seconds.
Unfortunately, Baumgartner wouldn’t have the chance to enjoy the record for the highest skydive in the world for long.
Alan Eustace
While Baumgartner was preparing for his gravity-defying jump from the Earth’s stratosphere, Alan Eustace was planning a similar jump. Eustace — a former Senior Vice President of Engineering for Google — sought to use a helium balloon like Baumgartner.
Baumgartner beat Eustace to the punch by taking his record-breaking jump first. But on October 24, 2014, Eustace got the best of Baumgartner by beating his record, which had only been around for about two years.
Eustace jumped from an altitude of 135,890 feet and descended back to Earth in four minutes and 27 seconds while reaching 822 miles per hour. He continues to hold the record for the highest skydive in the world today.
How Much Higher Can Skydivers Go?
During their epic skydives, Kittinger, Baumgartner, and Eustace pulled off the seemingly impossible. In particular, the jumps made by Baumgartner and Eustace have sometimes been categorized as space diving attempts.
But as the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale has pointed out, there haven’t been any true space dives yet. The Kármán line, which is about 62 miles from the Earth’s surface, is generally accepted as the “edge of space.” (that’s more than 300,000 feet)
It begs the question: Could a space jump happen one day? Conventional wisdom says no, but people were also skeptical about what Kittinger, Baumgartner, and Eustace would eventually accomplish.
Maybe the lesson here is that we shouldn’t ever doubt the daredevils brave enough to push the limits of skydiving.