Larry Connor doesn’t believe in setting limits. And over the last 18 months, he’s proven with the right mindset, you can achieve anything.
In April, Larry became the first person to reach the bottom of the ocean and pilot the first fully-private mission to the International Space Station within one year. Now, he’s added another first to his long list of accomplishments. He jumped from a plane at 25,695 feet with four other skydivers.
“It was exhilarating. Absolutely incredible,” Larry said.
The endeavor, named The Alpha 5 Project, was a HALO (high-altitude low opening) five-man formation skydive in Davis, California. Larry spent two minutes in freefall at speeds of 157.8 miles per hour. The skydive is set to earn Larry a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest human to make a HALO jump from above 25,000 feet.
“Age is a mindset. I just choose not to think about it and I certainly don’t ever use it as an excuse,” Larry said.
The jump was verified and reported to Guinness by an official observer, who used GPS data recorders and took witness statements of others affiliated with the feat. Guinness will certify the records within the next 12 weeks.
The skydive also featured a medical research component, with doctors studying the altitude effects on age that will help the skydiving community as a whole.
“If we were going to do this, we wanted to determine if there was a way it could benefit others,” Larry said.
The other jumpers work for Operator Solutions, which specializes in search and rescue solutions. They supported Larry’s Axiom-1 mission as it splashed down and were on standby if their return to Earth put them in an “unsupported landing zone.”
While many would consider this latest feat “impossible,” Larry never had the thought cross his mind. Larry is a veteran skydiver, has won aerobatic flying competitions, summited Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Rainier and completed the first rafting descent of the Himalayas’ Drangme Chhu River. He also has won various car-racing circuit championships, including the 2014 Baja 1000 Trophy Truck Spec class and the 2000 and 2001 Formula Atlantic national championships.
“I’ve always encouraged others to dream big, aim high and set impossible goals,” Larry said. “Nothing is impossible unless you think it is impossible.”
The Alpha 5 Project is set to reconvene in the spring and attempt the jump again at an altitude of 34,000 feet, which would set yet another Guinness World Record.