In 1960, man broke the sound barrier

Giblet

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.

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.

There's a brief interview with him about the jump here
http://www.elchineroconcepts.com/Joe%20Kittinger.htm

Boards of Canada used some of the footage that Joe and the balloon camera shot in their video for "Dayvan Cowboy." You can see it here.
http://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.

biko

All I can think of is: "Wow!". Some people really have the Right Stuff.

scojones

That's intense. Fair play to him.

forbairt

Tasty!!!!

Femelade

god, what if he had missed earth....?

gerire

Im surprised that at that speed the parachute cables didn't just snap when it opened.

But Id say that was some rush!!

Giblet

gerire wrote:

Im surprised that at that speed the parachute cables didn't just snap when it opened.

But Id say that was some rush!!

He slowed down as he got close to earth, he only hit 700 very early one (sound barrier is slower at that height aswell).

On and in case you are wondering why he "surfs" away at the end. That's a music video with the original footage spliced in.

Gurgle

gerire wrote:

Im surprised that at that speed the parachute cables didn't just snap when it opened.

As he dropped he would have gradually slowed down to terminal velocity, somewhere in the region of 56m/s (200kmph, 125mph) in the lower atmosphere.

Gosh

If he's the only one inthe balloon at the time he jumps then who the hell is filming him on his way down??

Giblet

The balloon, there's a camera on it. That's why it's shaking all over the place when he jumps.

EWheelChair

Me

jobonar

must have been some rush! there some nice stories to be able to tell the grand kids!

fuzzywiggle

Wow amazing!

joe_chicken

The guy must eat 10 steaks for breakfast... with a pint of tabasco sauce

MrJoeSoap

Thats the stuff of legends. Fair fecking play to him.