Eustace and StratEx Nominated for Collier Trophy!

Records
Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Following last October’s world-record-breaking leap from 135,897 feet, Alan Eustace and the StratEx Team are among this year’s nominees for the National Aeronautic Association’s prestigious Collier Trophy.

For 103 years the Robert J. Collier Trophy has been the benchmark of aviation and aerospace achievement. The NAA awards the trophy annually “… for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America.” Previous projects, programs, individuals and accomplishments to earn the recognition include the crews of Apollo 11 and Apollo 8, Howard Hughes, the B-52, the Polaris Missile, the Surveyor Moon Landing Program and the Boeing 747.

Eustace, a longtime USPA member and a senior vice president at Google, teamed with Paragon Space Development Corporation for the StratEx Project. The successful jump on October 24, 2014, over Roswell, New Mexico, broke multiple world records: exit altitude above sea level—41,422 meters (135,897 feet MSL); vertical speed with a stabilizing drogue—1,320 km/hour (821 mph, Mach 1.22); and distance of fall with a stabilizing drogue: 37,623 meters (123,434 feet).

This year’s additional nominees are the Embraer Legacy 500, the F-16 Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance Team, the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee, the Gulfstream G650, the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 and the Orion UAS Team. The NAA’s selection committee, which includes nearly 30 aviation and aerospace industry leaders, will select this year’s winner on March 11, and the NAA will announce the winner that evening at its Spring Awards Dinner in Arlington, Virginia. The formal presentation will take place at the Collier Dinner at a later date. More information is available at naa.aero.