Joe Kittinger's Skydive From The Edge Of Space (1960)

[iKlsR]

vsauce..

[DANIAL417]

i sky died insted of sy

[Jesusisyhwh]

America's first astronaut!



[ColonelChicken15]

Joe Kittinger is a Beast!!!!! How awesome would that be to be the first man to break the sound barrier... without an aircraft!!!!!

[maxsmodels]

I got to meet him a few weeks ago at the 50th anniversary of this event. A great guy. 82 years young and nowhere near stopping. He signed my copy of his autobiography "Come up and get me".

[bartonim]

@maxsmodels I just saw this on a Japanese TV programme about early experiments in altitude testing before actual space flight, as well as all of the great things that followed--the lunar landing included. The footage was a bit sharper and did not include the split footage; just Joe soaring as high as got and the jump, and then his landing. Superb. What a hero!

[wowdude999]

First saw this guy in 9th grade bill Nye the science guy video. I was fascinated at his records. Will never forget this guy

[Hynee]

Any new "unknown" footage in this? What's with the splitscreen footage starting 4:30, I'm guessing that was how it was recorded.

[airboyd]

@Hynee It's more extensive than the newsreel and has multiple gondola shots. I think the weird split screen might have been the gondola free falling?

[Hynee]

@airboyd It makes sense the split screen was from the gondala. I was just curious about that camera's setup and why they shot 2 views at once. Chances are it was just there as a backup camera and half a frame was good enough quality for both views. I'd be interested in the camera's setup, likely it was two lenses pointed towards a split mirror.

[airboyd]

@Hynee I wish I'd figure that out earlier, I would have tried to split the lens.

[michaeljfox16]

@airboyd I was reading about this before i looked it up on Youtube. Apparently the first chute wrapped around his neck and he became unconscious and entered a flatspin of 120 revolutions per minute (200 is fatal). So I would say he had 2 cameras on him and that is how fast he was spinning.

[airboyd]

@michaeljfox16 Wow!

[Gazjohnful]

@airboyd That is correct.