Jumping for the record - Cheryl Stearns, Army reserve skydiver

Army Reserve Magazine, Summer, 2001 by Steven J. Alvarez

The Stratoquest jump will not only put Stearns in the history books, but it will also allow researchers to gather scientific data about astronaut egress systems for future space vehicles. The effects of transonic acceleration on the human body will also be studied in addition to a multitude of other space-related experiments that will be conducted as she climbs to altitude and then falls. Stearns' international team of researchers, aviation and parachuting experts and sponsors and supporters has already started work to get the project off the ground.

"The Army is a world of opportunities. You have to have the initiative to go after it. It is there for you to have anything you want. Nothing is handed to you," Stearns said. "If you don't work for it, you're just going to get what is handed to you and you're not going to like what you get," she said. "The Army has given me the opportunity and put me where I am today," she said. Where she will be in less than one year, will be at the brim of the new frontier.

(1st Lt. Alvarez is with the Public Affairs and Liaison Directorate, Office of the Chief, Army Reserve)