First Man in Space - Skydiving From The Edge Of The World
First Man in Space - Skydiving From The Edge Of The World (Extended Version) // On August 16, 1960, Joseph Kittinger jumped his last ... all» 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 humanthrough 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.
Speed of sound = 767 mph...Kittingers equipment measured an air speed of 614 if I'm correct. But what big balls he had to jump at that altitude. Technically he was the first man in space, Gagarin was the first to orbit the earth in a manned craft that's why Kittingers feat was not as widely known. Funny to stumble on this video, I read a really detailed article about this a year or so ago. Thanks for posting, the original photo's after seeing this do it no justice.
thedman696969(November 30, 2008 at 7:38 pm)
that's absolutely right
NaturalStyleBJ(November 30, 2008 at 7:31 pm)
well the speed of sound is somthing like 760 miles per hour but sound travels various speeds depending on the environment sound actually travels near ts slowest in air and at 100k alt the speed of sound would be slower becuase temperature and sound decrease as altitude increases so as i wish to agree with you that he didnt break the speed of sound he was definitely not traveling 980mph
Nickforlife12(November 30, 2008 at 5:48 pm)
that is so fake
garfunkledev(November 29, 2008 at 11:09 pm)
that would be amazing
sparklequeen80(November 29, 2008 at 10:55 pm)
for some of the people asking, He didn't break the sound barrier but he was going pretty close to the speed of sound, im not sure what that is but I beleive he was going 980kph or 980mph while falling in the statosphere
mikeyp7456(November 29, 2008 at 8:08 pm)
I am going to do this, i am going to make it my life ambition, but maybe it wont ever happen
geneosis(November 28, 2008 at 10:53 pm)
sound barrier isn't the same when you get very high, the air is less dense.
coreyagraph(November 28, 2008 at 9:19 pm)
at the time this occured, it was classified under 'military'. there was cold war, space race, ect. wiki col. kittinger and you will see this was just one of his many amazing accomplishments.
Slater071(November 28, 2008 at 10:07 am)
Yes..Yuri Gagarin was the first man in SpaceThis clip aint the same thing.
ExperimentalArmy(November 28, 2008 at 3:36 am)
they recovered the basket that fell in the New Mexico desert but, I have no idea about the actual balloon.
