Post by Nodata on May 23, 2006 9:03:55 GMT -5
On August 16, 1960, Joe Kittinger was strapped into an specially modified U.S. Air Force balloon and set off on an ascent into the clouds. After 4 hours he reached the edge of space at a record breaking attitude of 102,800 feet (approx 20 miles above land). At that height he was basically in outerspace with very little atmosphere and an outside temperature at 100 degrees below zero.
Then Joe did something that showed he had the biggest balls on the planet....he jumped out.
There's a brief interview with him about the jump here
www.elchineroconcepts.com/Joe%20Kittinger.htm
Joe was in freefall for over 4 minutes and hit a top speed of over 700 miles per hour. Lucky for us he brought a film camera.
Boards of Canada used some of the footage that Joe and the balloon camera shot in their video for "Dayvan
." You can see it here.212.78.76.244/dayvancowboy/boc-dayvancowboy.wmv
Later in the 60s, Joe flew 483 combat missions in Vietnam and spent 11 months as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton.
He's still alive at age 78 and lives in the Orlando area.
I imagine this is the kind of man who wakes up in the morning, kills a silverback gorilla with his bare hands for his morning exercise, then eats his breakfast that consists of a bowl of nails soaked in diesel fuel.
A youtube vid of the jump...
youtube.com/watch?v=P_9QHBMJdrI
Here's what I would have thought would have happened...
70.86.201.113/imageserv2/temporary/PBF018ADTheFirstSnowflakeofWinter.jpg
