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[–] Pandameat88 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

What an incredible bad-ass. Makes me sad thinking how little we sometime accomplish/push these days.

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[–] someguyfromcanada [S] ago 

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[–] Pandameat88 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I do recall that happening. Thanks for the reference. :)

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[–] someguyfromcanada [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Kittingerr is a retired American Air Force pilot. On August 16, 1960, he jumped over the New Mexico desert from the Excelsior III gondola balloon at 31,300 m. Towing a small drogue parachute for initial stabilization, he fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a speed of 614 M.P.H. (988 km/h), before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m).

Of the three jumps from the Excelsior, Kittinger said: "There's no way you can visualize the speed. There's nothing you can see to see how fast you're going. You have no depth perception. If you're in a car driving down the road and you close your eyes, you have no idea what your speed is. It's the same thing if you're free falling from space. There are no signposts. You know you are going very fast, but you don't feel it. You don't have a 614-mph wind blowing on you. I could only hear myself breathing in the helmet."

Kittinger set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes), and fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere.

Here he is upon landing. The landing was hard and the seat kit inflicted a severe bruise on his leg. Otherwise, he was unhurt. The helicopters landed at almost the same instant as Kittinger and medical technicians rushed to his aid. "I'm very glad to be back with you all," was how Kittinger greeted the recovery team.

His record stood until 2012, when Kittinger, at the age of 84, participated as capsule communicator to direct Felix Baumgartner on his record-breaking 39-kilometer (24 mi) freefall from Earth's stratosphere, exceeding Kittinger's jump.

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