OT - Introducing Joe Kittinger

[Check Six]

Was going through my old research and came across this old "hero" of mine - a true LEGEND!

 

Joe Kittinger MAY have been the first man in space. It depends what you consider to be "Space". It is generally considered to be the point where there is less than 1% of the earth's atmosphere.

 

Yuri Gagarin certainly was there in 1961. But on August 16th, 1960, Joe Kittinger went aloft in a helium balloon. He reached an altitude of 102,800 feet (31,300m). That is still the highest altitude ever achieved in a balloon. That is (close as dammit) to 20 miles!

 

When he got there.... HE JUMPED!

 

No, it's not a joke. HE JUMPED! He was in freefall for over four and a half minutes and descended for a total of close to fifteen minutes. He reckoned that during his freefall...he broke the speed of sound! With no artifical means whatsoever. He certainly achieved speeds up to 614MPH (988 km/h). He opened his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500m).

 

The records he achieved on this day...The highest altitude achieved in a balloon, highest altitude parachute jump, the longest freefall, fastest speed ever achieved by a man through the atmosphere.

 

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheet...eet.asp?id=1114

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81gn2oLeC_U

 

A truly amazing feat.

[crl848]

Easy for me to say, but his later record as a vietnam POW leaves a bit to be desired. Have you seen those guys (one French, one British) trying to beat his record?

[Hauksbee]

...he broke the speed of sound! With no artifical means whatsoever. He certainly achieved speeds up to 614MPH (988 km/h).

I recall seeing this [History Channel?] and the heart does a tremble when he steps out. But I had always thought that terminal velocity for a falling human was around 120 mph. Is the higher speed because of thinner air?

[+Hasse Wind]

31 km is not nearly high enough to be considered space, even though it's an amazing feat to go that high in a balloon (I saw an interesting documentary about those balloon experiments some time ago). At 100 km there is the so-called Kármán line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), the almost universally accepted altitude in which the space outside our atmosphere begins. 30 km is still well within the limits of stratosphere. But that doesn't make his achievement any less impressive, it just isn't enough to beat Mr. Gagarin. :yes: