Google executive Alan Eustace jumped from a helium balloon and fell to Earth from more than 135,000 feet on Friday, setting a record. He ascended attached to the balloon, then severed the connection with a small explosive device and descended beneath an orange-and-white parachute. Eustace, 57, remained in free fall for about four minutes and 30 seconds before touching down safely in a field near Roswell, New Mexico; he landed on his feet, somersaulted, and waved.

A senior vice president at Google, Eustace took a sabbatical for the mission. He is the second person to break the sound barrier outside an aircraft: in 2012 Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner reached 833.9 mph from 128,100 feet; Eustace reached 822 mph. "I always wondered: What if you could design a system that would allow humans to explore the stratosphere as easily and safely as they do the ocean?" he said.

Eustace wore a custom pressurized spacesuit developed by ILC Dover, and Paragon Space Development Corporation created the life-support system. "I hope we've encouraged others to explore this part of the world about which we still know so little," he added. "I knew I had high-performing people working for me," Google CEO Larry Page wrote on Google+. Alan Eustace, a Google executive, broke the sound barrier and set several skydiving records over the southern New Mexico desert after leaping from the edge of space. He jumped from 135,908 feet in a specially designed spacesuit, beating the mark set by Austrian Felix Baumgartner in 2012. Eustace reached a top speed of 822 mph during a freefall that lasted four and a half minutes. The supersonic jump was part of a project by Paragon Space Development Corporation and its Stratospheric Explorer team, which had been working secretly for years to develop a self-contained commercial spacesuit to allow people to explore some 20 miles above the Earth's surface. The technology used in the balloon, the spacesuit and other systems from the launch will be used to advance commercial spaceflight, including efforts by Arizona-based World View Enterprises to take paying tourists up in a high-altitude balloon and luxury capsule starting in late 2016. As more people head into the stratosphere, officials said the spacesuits could be adapted for emergency rescues or other scientific endeavours. After nearly three years of intense planning, development, and training, Eustace began his ascent in a high-altitude helium balloon just as the sun was rising. It took more than two hours to reach an altitude of 135,890 feet (41,419 meters). From that height he separated from the balloon and started plummeting back to Earth. Jim Hayhurst, director of competition at the United States Parachute Association, was the jump's official observer. He said Eustace deployed a drogue parachute that gave him exceptional stability and control despite reaching a freefall speed of Mach 1.23. Eustace did not feel it when he broke the sound barrier, but the ground crew heard the resulting sonic boom, Hayhurst said. "He just said it was a fabulous view. He was thrilled," Hayhurst said of his conversation with Eustace after he landed. The supersonic skydive happened with little fanfare, out of the media spotlight, unlike the 2012 attempt by daredevil Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team. Baumgartner, who had been taken aloft in a capsule with the help of millions of dollars in sponsorships, had set the previous altitude record by jumping from 128,100 feet (39,045 meters).