Yevgeni Andreyev

Yevgeny Nikolayevich Andreyev (; 4 September 1926 – 9 February 2000) was a colonel in the Soviet Air Force. He set an official record for the longest-distance free-fall parachute jump on 1 November 1962, which the Guinness Book of Records put at . The previous record holder for highest free-fall jump was Joseph Kittinger. Although Andreyev did not break the record for highest parachute jump, also held by Kittinger, Kittinger's jump was stabilized by a drogue parachute and therefore not free-fall. Andreyev was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for his feat.

Andreyev's record stood until 2012, when Felix Baumgartner broke it with a jump from .

Early life

Andreyev was born on 4 September 1926 in the city of Novosibirsk, Russia. From 1937 to 1942 he was brought up in an orphanage in Serov, Sverdlovsk Region. He worked in a factory in the city of Nizhny Tagil. He was in the Soviet Army in 1943. He studied at the School of Armavir pilots.

In 1955 he graduated from the Ryazan Airborne School. After graduation he participated in a test of parachute systems on 1 November 1962 as part of a secret experiment conducted by the head of the Soviet space program Sergey Korolev. From 1972 to 1991, he was a member of the CPSU.

Career and death On 1 November 1962, Andreyev and Pyotr Dolgov ascended from Volsk, near Saratov. Andreyev jumped from the capsule at and free-fell before successfully deploying his parachute.

In 1985, Andreyev, one of the first in the country, was awarded the honorary title of Honored skydiver test the USSR, badge number 3.

In total, he made eight jumps from the stratosphere.

He lived in the village Chkalovsky, Moscow region. He died on 9 February 2000 and is buried in the cemetery of the village Leoniha of Schyolkovo district, Moscow region.