An American skydiver has become the first to jump 25,000 feet from a plane without a parachute and land in a net.

Luke Aikins, 42, completed the record-breaking Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent stunt at the Big Sky movie ranch in Simi Valley, California, which was broadcast live on the Fox network on Saturday evening.

He hit the 100-by-100-foot net perfectly, quickly climbed out of it and walked over to hug his our-year-old son Logan and wife Monica who had been watching with other family members.

‘I’m almost levitating, it’s incredible,’ the jubilant skydiver said, raising his hands over his head as his wife held their son, who dozed in her arms.

‘This thing just happened! I can’t even get the words out of my mouth,’ he added as he thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the fishing trawler-like net and made sure it really worked.