Diving From Space

March 29th, 2008

Its kind of amazing how most people don’t know about Joe Kittinger, the first man in space. August 16th 1960 he jumped at the near edges of gravity almost 20 miles from the ground.

“Then I found myself on my back watching the balloon recede above me. The sky was almost black. It was a beautiful thing to see. I had a sensation of lying still while the balloon raced away from me. I didn’t feel hot or cold, just the right temperature. There was very little spinning. At 18,000 ft., the regular chute opened automatically. Ten minutes from then I was down.”

You can watch his jump and hear him speak here.

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Entry Filed under: exploration, perspective