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. On August 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 (22) seconds his body accelerated to 714 mph in the thin air, breaking the sound barrier.
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"When everything was done, I stood up, turned around to the door, took one final look out and said a silent prayer: "Lord, take care of me now." Then I just jumped over the side."
We saw a short bit of film footage of this event last night and it is truly a remarkable undertaking. There was a movie camera both in the gondola that captured the actual jump and Kittinger also had a camera mounted to his person. Both are spectacular to watch. We did a quick search on the Web but could not find a downloadable file of either the gondola footage or from Kittinger's camera; update us if anyone can find it. Meanwhile, here's a still photo of the jump:
