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Stuntman jumps Snake River Canyon in steam-powered rocket, finishes what Evel Knievel could never do

Posted at 10:13 PM, Sep 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-17 00:14:40-04

On a sunny Friday afternoon along the north rim of the Snake River Canyon, Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun did what many said could not be done -- jump the canyon. But if you ask Braun's partner and rocket engineer Scott Truax, there was never any doubt.

“Eddie Braun is my new hero,” said Scott Truax.” I mean, I loved the guy before. Five, four, three, two, one -- he didn't hesitate. He was gone, and I've sat in, and actually sat in on the ramp. And I don't care what anyone says, until you've sat in it and looked skyward 56 degrees at nothing but blue sky, understanding that this little 25-inch diameter tube in five seconds is going to be at 435-miles-an-hour, I'm sorry, if you say that is not terrifying, you're full of it.”

Hundreds of friends, family and crew members waited hours to hear the words. Three, two, one, blastoff!

“I couldn't believe it, you know. I figured he’d get some good height, but I lost him in the sun. He went so high,” said one spectator. “I didn't think he was coming back down, but he made it.”

What Braun did was prove that if things had gone as planned for his boyhood hero, Evel Knievel, he would have proved he was the greatest daredevil of all time. 6 On Your Side asked a member of Knievel's crew, who was here for Braun’s jump, what Evel would have said about this if he was at the jump.

“I know he would be saying, 'I hope you made a lot of money,'” said the former Knievel crew member.

So, for a journey that started three years ago in downtown Boise, it is now over. Congratulations Eddie Braun. It is a day no one will ever forget.