Karel Soucek

[1] He had also spent $15,000 on materials and labor and $30,000 to film the stunt, but quickly earned back all his costs from sales and interviews.

[2] Having tasted success, Soucek decided to build a museum at Niagara Falls, Ontario in which to display his stunting paraphernalia.

He convinced a corporation to finance a barrel drop of 180 feet (55 m) from the top of the Houston Astrodome into a tank of water to pay for his project.

[4] Foam pads which had been placed at the bottom of the tank to cushion Soucek's fall had floated to the surface before the barrel was released.

[1] Soucek, severely injured, was still alive when he was cut from the barrel but died while the Astrodome stunt show was still going on.

Soucek in the barrel in which he went over Niagara Falls
Soucek's grave at Drummond Hill Cemetery. The inscription reads: "It is better for a person to take chance from life than to live in that gray twilight and know not victory nor defeat. – Karel Soucek"