Joseph W. Kittinger - Skydiving From The Edge Of The World

On August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped his last Excelsior jump, doing so from an air-thin height of 102,800 feet (31,334 meters). From that nearly 20 miles altitude, his tumble toward terra firma took some 4 minutes and 36 seconds. Exceeding the speed of sound during the fall, Kittinger used a small stabilizing chute before a larger, main parachute opened in the denser atmosphere. He safely touched down in barren New Mexico desert, 13 minutes 45 seconds after he vaulted into the void. The jump set records that still stand today, among them, the highest parachute jump, the longest freefall, and the fastest speed ever attained by a human through the atmosphere. Somewhat in contention is Kittinger's use of the small parachute for stabilization during his record-setting fall. Roger Eugene Andreyev, a Russian, is touted as holding the world's free fall record of 80,325 feet (24,483 meters), made on November 1, 1962.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_diving_010608-1.html

Soundtrack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMZyIsdT0g

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Skydiving
• Edge
• Kittinger
• Excelsior

[MrArtaus]

who knows whats name of this song?

[0x6966]

U N K L E ft Moby - God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters

[zapproowsdower]

Who wants to start a space-dive company with me? This was 51 years ago. We should be doing this daily, bringing HD cameras with every trip.

[vovchanchyn]

This is when they built real men! Now days we just have guys watchin jersey shore and frosting their tips! 51 years ago today he made this jump, absolutley awesome, Way to go Colonel Joe Kittinger!!!

[compaq2441]

There are only 2 man made things visible from space. The great wall of china and Joseph Kittinger's balls.

[xHypeRxChckNx]

"I can see my house from here!"

[AmericanRaven19]

@BushyX thanks, i didnt know if at some point they would need heat protection like the space shuttle, but i guess when the shuttle is orbiting its going several thousand miles an hour.

[BushyX]

@AmericanRaven19 Its not about how high you are. Meteors burn up in the atmosphere because they enter the earth's atmosphere from space already traveling at a very high velocity. When they hit the atmosphere at that speed, the friction that the molecules in the atmosphere put on the meteor cause it to burn up.

[prwexler]

What amazes me about this video is how the author turns about three seconds of free-fall, seen from the balloon, combined with a few other scenes, into a complete story about the Excelsior project. I keep coming back to look.

Well done!

[soulmusic1967]

@AmericanRaven19 100 km is where the space begins

[blackbettyford]

There are no words to describe how amazing, awsome this guy is for doing that jump, just wonder what was going thru his mind as he was going up and right at the edge before the jump

[Orfeus2009]

He is a GOD!!!

[AmericanRaven19]

how high do you have to be before you burn up in the atmosphere like a human sized meteor?

[0x6966]

@Astralwurksdk Google this "UNKLE-Self-Defence-Never-Neve­r-Land-Reconstructed-And-Bonus­-Beats discogs" and look at rows 2-1, 3-6 and 4-6.