Completing Evel Knievel's dream and (we believe) setting a Guinness World Record in the process, Braun hit the button and launched himself over the canyon in a hissing rush of high-G acceleration that saw him hit speeds up to 430 mph (693 km/h) within a matter of 3-4 seconds. New Atlas was right there on site – here's some raw video of this extraordinary feat.

Sometimes, when you want something done right, you don't need a daredevil. You need a stunt man. Where Evel Knievel's rocket bike jump attempt in 1974 was underplanned, underfunded, undertested and underdone, Eddie Braun's team had this very dangerous stunt on lockdown. A peerless team of Hollywood stunt co-ordinators and rocket scientists oversaw the event and built a historically accurate but much safer Evel Spirit Skycycle, complete with a ballistic parachute system and hydraulic ram nosecone to soften the "lawn dart" style landing.