Daredevil jumped 25,000 feet without a parachute. Now he wants to jump from space: “It’s the dream, the thing of dropping the microphone”

NEED TO KNOW

• Daredevil Luke Aikins, 52, hopes to jump from a rocket 330,000 feet above Earth, a decade after his record skydive without a parachute.

• In 2016, Aikins jumped from 25,000 feet and landed safely in a 100-foot-wide net after completing hundreds of practice jumps.

• Aikins said careful planning and extensive safety testing were key to his success, and he hopes his next stunt will surpass his previous feat.

A daredevil who made history by jumping from a 25,000-foot plane without a parachute is planning an even more extraordinary stunt: jumping from a rocket to the edge of space.

Luke Aikins made headlines in 2016 when he made his record-breaking jump over the California desert and landed safely in a net just 100 feet wide, setting a world record for the highest jump without a parachute.

Now, a decade later, Aikins, 52, hopes to take things to a whole new level by jumping from a spaceship about 330,000 feet above Earth, more than 12 times the height of his previous record-breaking stunt.

“That’s the dream, dropping the mic,” Aikins said recently The times. “I worked hard, this is my big project.”

This ambitious jump would take place near the Kármán Line, the commonly recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space, located approximately 62 miles above the planet’s surface.

Aikins, who estimates he has completed about 22,000 skydives throughout his career, said he is determined to take on new challenges since his historic 2016 jump.

“I never wanted skydiving to be the only thing I was known for,” he told the outlet. “I’m proud of it. It was incredible and it took an incredible team to do it. But it might be the thing I’m most known for if I can’t nail the rocket jump.”

Aikins’ fascination with skydiving began long before he began setting records.

His grandfather served as a military pilot during World War II, while his father was a naval aviator who later flew for United Airlines. His mother was also an avid skydiver and continued to jump while she was pregnant with him.

Aikins made his first tandem skydive when he was just 12 years old and began skydiving regularly at 16.

His wife Monica, who is also a skydiver, supports his high-risk activities but makes sure he understands the preparation and safety considerations behind each stunt.

“She knows what I’m doing,” he said. “She knows all the different stunts, and all the context and testing. We do this as a team.”

“She has to buy into it and say she’s in it. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t do it,” he added.

Although his jump without a parachute in 2016 appeared incredibly dangerous to viewers around the world, Aikins said the stunt was meticulously planned and tested.

“It was like a giant science project,” he recalls. “I really like R&D (research and development), figuring out how to do it. Is it possible?”

According to Aikins, he performed about 350 practice jumps in preparation for the event, as well as extensive testing intended to ensure the net could safely absorb the force of his landing.

His team also threw dummies into the net to assess the impact, including deceleration and G-forces his body would experience.

Before the live shot, Aikins had already landed in the net 81 times during training.

“I wasn’t 99% sure it would work, I was 100%,” he said. The times.

On the day of the jump, Aikins jumped out of a Cessna plane and began falling toward the desert below, relying entirely on his ability to maneuver his body to position himself above the net.

As he approached the landing area, he said he felt an unexpected sense of calm.

“At about 3,000 feet above the net, so maybe 15 seconds before I was about to make it work or not, everything slowed down,” he recalled. “It became easy in my mind. Like, ‘I just have to do this, and that’s good. There’s no doubt it’s going to work.’ “

Aikins landed safely on the net, performing a stunt that captivated more than a million viewers watching the show around the world.

“It felt like I was vibrating when I landed in it,” he remembers of the exhilaration he felt.

This feat helped make Aikins one of the most recognizable figures in extreme skydiving. He now shares his stunts on social media, where he says his videos are viewed millions of times.

Aikins now hopes to find a way to make his dream of jumping into space a reality, potentially with the help of a private aerospace company developing commercial rocket technology.

Although Aikins has not announced a date for the stunt or confirmed how he will carry it out, he remains committed to pursuing the idea.

“Impossible, it’s just an opinion,” he said.

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The daredevil also said his legacy is already being carried on by the next generation: his 14-year-old son Logan has already made several solo jumps.

“He takes risks, but he also plays by the rules,” Aikins told the outlet.

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