Just when you thought stunts couldn’t get crazier, here comes stuntman Eddie Braun who recently did something that even the legendary Evel Knievel couldn’t do. With his steam-powered rocket Evel Spirit doing most of the work, Braun launched himself a few thousand feet over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in one of the most hair-raising stunts we’ve seen in quite some time.

According to the Idaho Statesman, Braun was estimated to have travelled with a maximum velocity of around 400 mph, which only gave him a total of four seconds of flight time before he had to pull the parachute that helped him land safely back on the ground, 1,400 feet away from where his rocket lifted off.

A video posted by 2NewsBoise captured Braun’s launch right up to the moment where his parachuted landed on the other side of the canyon. There were a few suspenseful seconds in between as the sun made it difficult to spot Braun’s parachute, but once he was spotted, the gathered crowd let out what can only be described as a combination of excitement and relief in seeing the stuntman accomplish the feat that his hero couldn’t.

Congratulations, Eddie Braun! Here's to hoping your senses are still intact!

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Why it Matters

He may have performed his most of his stunts using motorcycles, but Evel Knievel’s legacy remains to this day, even from within the automotive industry. That’s a reason why Eddie Braun’s successful jump over Snake River Canyon resonated with me because of what that particular stunt meant to the legacy of Knievel.

To see someone like Braun admit that he “simply finished” his idol’s dream is a refreshing reflection of what Knievel meant to a generation of stuntmen today. It’s pretty cool that those same people who thought of him as their hero are now getting to finish the stunts that he first thought about.

I’m not going to wax poetic about the whole thing, but let’s be clear on one thing. With today's technology, everyone admits that Knievel could have made that jump himself. The fact that he’s not here anymore is a bummer, but I think he’s looking down on what Braun accomplished in his name – that rocket was named “Evel Spirit” for a reason – and is proud of the fact that his legacy is still inspiring a lot of people today.