31km Freefall (Joseph Kittinger)

In 1960 Joe Kittinger jumped from an altitude of 31,200m (102,800ft) setting several records, one which remains unbroken!
(Update : Felix Baumgartner, with the help of Red Bull and guidance from Joe himself, has now broken highest ascent, highest parachute jump and fastest speed)

Dnb Track is "Balderdash - Marcus Intalex"

Why didn't he burn up?
Basically, he wasn't going fast enough to 'burn'. The air gradually gets thicker, and so he slows down gradually without getting hot enough to combust (though I wouldn't recommend this with bare skin!)
Things that do 'burn up' in the atmosphere due to friction are moving at much higher speeds. For example, the space shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at around 28,000km/h (17,000mph) though is able to deflect the heat with it's ceramic tiled underside.
Meteors (shooting stars) are moving at even greater speeds, and usually disintegrate completely before reaching the ground

• Category

  Science & Technology

[ja23gr]

Who's tape this video,who is camerman guy? Thanx for an.

[Daniel Jacob]

No cameraman, just cameras attached to the balloon

[DjinnGuru]

@grozmo1 You should fix at least the top red annotation at 4:30 for the records that didn't last that long: highest manned balloon ascent (broken in 1961 by Stratolab 5, which in turn was later broken by Nick Piantanida's second attempted skydive in 1966) and the longest freefall (broken by Eugene Andreev in 1962). Blue annotation isn't true, as the late Eugene Andreev still holds the longest freefall record. The only one that lasted over 50 years was the highest skydive record.

[Daniel Jacob]

1.5 million views and you're the first to pick up mistakes O.O .. lol, thanks I will fix it up!

[Jef Claes]

It's sad that people need Baumgartner's highly commercialised Red Bull jump to remember this. It was a huge deal back then, little was known about the stratosphere. While it's still cool to do this today, it's not as impressive in my opinion. It shows how easily people forget epic moments like this.

Also, he smoked a cigarette upon landing. That's badass.

[TheTrushy]

Joe Kittinger - Jumped from space before it was cool :D

[HellionPL]

Epic jump better than Felix... that was 52 years ago... epic... just epic :D

[dollar12]

No cameraman? Who is holding the camera from 2:34 to 2:50?  And moving with them? That's either another person doing the filming or a major discontinuity in the film.

[jezuzfreek777]

Felix has technology and a ton more scientific knowledge..... Kittinger did it first with less. That's awesome.

[Dustin Eichten]

looks like a bumby ride at 2:05

[Noah Seyarn]

... And his hand have doubled of volume.... 

[candyscar]

I agree, i only ever heard found out about this through late night random youtube video watching a few years ago, and i was stunned at why i hadn't heard about this before. This guy deserves so much more recognition

[Ion Meth]

Bragging rights... For life.

[espritbrillant]

FELIX BAUMGARTNER

[BricktownBubba]

Joe didn't have a cozy capsule to ferry himself up there either. He had to do it exposed to the elements all the way.

[001silverman001]

To grahamlong.... At that altitude the extra 5 km is alot.