Two 1960 flight records still stand...
Flight Record #1) - The Highest Parachute Jump
Flight Record #2) - Breaking the Sound Barrier without a craft (and living to tell about it)
From the
Braden Files comes a link to an interview with a
75-year-old geezer:
bq. Joe Kittinger is not a household aviation name like Neil Armstrong or Chuck Yeager. But what he did for the U.S. space program is comparable.
bq. On Aug. 16, 1960, as research for the then-fledgling U.S. space program, Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger rode a helium balloon to the edge of space, 102,800 feet above the earth, a feat in itself. Then, wearing just a thin pressure suit and breathing supplemental oxygen, he leaned over the cramped confines of his gondola and jumped--into the 110-degree-below-zero, near-vacuum of space. Within seconds his body accelerated to 714mph in the thin air, breaking the sound barrier. After free-falling for more than four and a half minutes, slowed finally by friction from the heavier air below, he felt his parachute open at 14,000 feet, and he coasted gently down to the New Mexico desert floor.
bq. Kittinger's feat showed scientists that astronauts could survive the harshness of space with just a pressure suit and that man could eject from aircraft at extreme altitudes and survive. Upon Kittinger's return to base, a congratulatory telegram was waiting from the Mercury Seven astronauts--including Alan Shepard and John Glenn.
bq. More than four decades later Kittinger's two world records--the highest parachute jump, and the only man to break the sound barrier without a craft and live--still stand. We decided to visit the retired colonel and Aviation Hall of Famer, now 75, at his home in Altamonte Springs, Florida, to recall his historic jump.
The interview is wonderful - Joe Kittinger has the Right Stuff
Posted by DaveH at January 24, 2004 11:02 PM