A Leap of Faith

I recently read a fascinating article in the New Yorker about Joe Kittinger.  Kittinger worked for the US Air Force in the 50s and 60s, and was involved with something called Project Excelsior, which was associated with early space flight and was designed to see just how far up a person could go and still bail out.

Kittinger and his Gondola

As I read, I was stunned to see just how far up Kittinger had skydived from.  I mean this guy was basically on the very cusp of outer space, and had the balls to jump anyway.  Kittinger rode up into the sky on three separate occasions in a Space Capsule-like Gondola that was attached to a balloon.  His first two jumps were from around 70,000 feet, but his third and most historic jump, which took place on August 16, 1960 was from 102,800 feet.  That’s 19 miles up!

Kittinger Makes his Leap of Faith

Kittinger was so far up, that at first as he looked down, he felt that he was frozen in midair.  However, when he shifted onto his back, he saw that his balloon was quickly becoming a speck.  In fact, he was falling at a speed of 614 (approaching the speed of sound).  Around him, the air was as cold as -94 degrees Fahrenheit.  The fall took a total of 14 minutes.

Scenes from the Fall

Amazingly, Kittinger came through the jump virtually unscathed.  His only injury was sustained when pressurization failed on his right hand glove, causing that hand to swell up to twice its normal size.  His amazing jump remains the record for a sky dive to this day, almost 50 years later.

How is it that this guy is such an obscure figure?  It seems to me that his contribution to space flight is as big as some of our early astronausts, and yet I have never heard of him before.  Here are some links so that you can read more about him (he’s actually is still alive and has led an amazing life):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Kittinger/EX31.htm