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Daredevil Jumped 25,000 Feet Without a Parachute. Now He Wants to Leap from Space: ‘That’s the Dream, the Drop-the-Mic Thing’
By Toria Sheffield Published on October 18, 2026 06:30AM EDT
A daredevil who made history by jumping out of an airplane from 25,000 feet without a parachute is planning an even more extraordinary stunt: leaping from a rocket at the edge of space.
Luke Aikins made headlines in 2016 when he made his record-breaking jump above 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 an entirely new level by jumping from a spacecraft approximately 330,000 feet above Earth — more than 12 times the height of his previous record-setting stunt.
“That’s the dream, the drop-the-mic thing,” Aikins recently told The Times. “I’ve been pursuing that pretty hard, it’s my big project.”
The ambitious jump would take place near the Kármán line, the commonly recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, located approximately 62 miles above the planet’s surface.
Aikins, who estimates he has completed around 22,000 skydives throughout his career, said he has been determined to pursue new challenges since his historic 2016 jump.
“I never wanted the no-parachute jump to be the only thing I’m known for,” he told the outlet. “I’m proud of it — it was incredible and it took an amazing team to pull off. But it might be the thing I’m best known for if I can’t pull off the rocket jump.”
Aikins’ fascination with skydiving began long before he started 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 jumping while pregnant with him.
Aikins experienced 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 pursuits but makes sure she understands the preparation and safety considerations behind each stunt.
“She’s educated on what I’m doing,” he said. “She knows all of the different stunts and all the background and testing. We do this as a team.”
“She has to buy into it and say that she’s in. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t do it,” he added.
Although his 2016 jump without a parachute appeared incredibly dangerous to viewers watching around the world, Aikins said the stunt was meticulously planned and tested.
“It was like a giant science project,” he recalled. “I really like R&D [research and development], figuring out how to do it. Is it possible?”
According to Aikins, he completed approximately 350 practice jumps in preparation for the event, along with extensive testing designed to ensure that the net could safely absorb the force of his landing.
His team also dropped dummies into the net to evaluate the impact, including the deceleration and G-forces his body would experience.
Before the live stunt, Aikins had already landed in the net 81 times during practice.
“I wasn’t 99% sure it was going to work, I was 100%,” he told The Times.
On the day of the jump, Aikins leaped from a Cessna airplane and began falling toward the desert below, relying entirely on his ability to maneuver his body into position above the net.
As he approached the landing area, he said he experienced an unexpected feeling 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 it’s good. There’s no question it’s going to work.’ “
Aikins landed safely in the net, completing a stunt that had captivated more than a million viewers watching the broadcast worldwide.
“It was like I was vibrating when I landed in it,” he recalled of the exhilaration he experienced.
The achievement helped establish Aikins as one of the most recognizable figures in extreme skydiving. He now shares his stunts on social media, where he said his videos receive millions of views.
Aikins now hopes to find a way to make his space-jump dream a reality, potentially with assistance from a private aerospace company developing commercial rocket technology.
While Aikins has not announced a date for the stunt or confirmed how he would carry it out, he remains determined to pursue the idea.
“Impossible is just an opinion,” he said.
The daredevil also said his legacy is already being carried on by the next generation: his 14-year-old son, Logan, has already done several solo jumps.
“He’s a risk taker but he’s also a rule follower,” Aikins told the outlet.
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