Skydiving was his late-life passion

Back when he was a soldier serving in wars, George H.W. Bush made a pledge to himself that he would one day go skydiving. When Bush was approaching his 75th birthday, he realized that a standard birthday celebration would not be satisfying.

At the Bush Presidential Library, which is close to Houston, on June 13, 2004, he parachuted in with the United States Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. The actor and martial arts expert Chuck Norris and Fox News Washington correspondent Brit Hume were two of the more than 4,000 people who saw him jump. The famous couple participated in the event by jumping as well. Mikhail Gorbachov, a former president of the Soviet Union, was also there at the event, and Bush invited him to jump with him. Gorbachov, however, asserted that he had never jumped and was now too elderly to do so.

George H.W. Bush continued to pursue skydiving despite his family's worries on his 80th, 85th, and 90th birthdays as well - one of the interesting facts about George H.W. Bush. Following Bush's passing, retired Golden Knight sergeant Mike Elliott, who had previously jumped with Bush, claimed that the late president was still considering a jump in 2019.