Watch: Jenna Bush Hager Skydives Live on TODAY in Honor of Her Grandfather George H.W. Bush

Jenna Bush Hager honored her late grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, by leaping out of an airplane from 10,000 feet live on Today. 

Hager chose to go to such great heights to pay tribute to her grandfather because of his own fascination with the extreme sport, as the late president went skydiving eight times before his passing.

Bush, wheelchair-bound at the time, famously went skydiving for the last time to celebrate his 90th birthday in June 2014.

“My Gampy had made the decision to jump as a tribute to his years as a pilot during WWII,” Hager explained. “In fact, the first time he jumped out of an airplane he was 19 years old, and it was 1944. His plane was shot down over the Pacific, so he was forced to jump. He hit his head on the plane but was later rescued. Two of the other members of his team didn’t live.”

“He told me once that he jumps for them,” she continued. “He jumped because he lived.”

Inspired by her grandfather’s dedication to honoring the fallen, Hager decided that she would follow suit, skydiving live on air just days after his birthday, and seven years after his last jump.

“I jump for him,” Hager said of her decision to plummet to earth at a speed of 120 miles per hour. “And I will jump because I’m in the game, enjoying every moment, and feeling closer to him in the heavens.”

Hager, who was joined by members of the United States Army Golden Knights, prepped for the jump live on air, receiving praise and well wishes from the Today Show team.

“Why did I say yes to this?!” she said, clearly nervous before the big plunge.

She then fell from the sky in a tandem jump with Sergeant First Class Joseph Abeln, confirming that, “It feels like floating,” once the two were back on the grounds of the National Museum of the United States Army.

“But it’s one of the most exhilarating, terrifying moments of your life,” she added. “I feel close to all the people I’ve been missing.”

Hager also received a call from her mother Laura Bush following the feat, the former first lady admitting that she was “really nervous,” yet praised her daughter for the “great honor to her Gampy.”

Watch above, via NBC.

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