Opening General Session: Stratospheric Explorer Alan Eustace |
Tuesday, December 9th 2025 8:30 am - 9:30 am |
Concorde |
| Stratospheric explorer Alan Eustace will deliver the opening keynote address on Tuesday, December 9 to open the 58th annual convention of the International Council of Air Shows. On October 24, 2014, Eustace ascended to nearly 136,000 feet above the Earth’s surface before being released from beneath a giant helium balloon to begin a four-and-a-half-minute, 23-mile freefall during which he reached speeds of 822 miles per hour. Though seen by some as a “daredevil stunt,” the ascent, freefall, parachute deployment and safe landing were actually the culmination of a three-year, privately funded, meticulously planned and expertly executed project to break the world record for the highest free-fall jump and total free-fall distance…records that still have not been broken more than a decade later. The project was also a testament to the power of innovation, science, hazard mitigation, personal initiative and teamwork. Eustace’s recounting of his spaceship-less trip into the stratosphere, how it was planned, and the lessons he and his team learned along the way will educate, entertain and inspire the nearly 1,600 convention delegates expected to be in attendance for the first day of this year’s ICAS Convention. |