There's a book available called "Freefall" about an ex-Army guy (Tom
something) who tried to break the high altitude records...
At 09:16 08/03/2001 -0800, Mike Dierken wrote:
>In the 60's or 70's there was a US test pilot that did a similar thing - I
>saw footage on some PBS show.
>Something went wrong & he almost couldn't get out of the enclosure beneath
>the balloon, but he eventually did it.
>The footage of him plunging out the door with the surface of the Earth as
>background is phenomonal.
>
>I'll look for a link...
>
>A timeline
><http://www.gasballooning.org/Ballooning%20Milestones.htm>http://www.gasballooning.org/Ballooning%20Milestones.htm
>
>"1960 -- Altitude Record and Highest Parachute Jump: Air Force Captain Joe
>Kittinger jumps from a balloon at 102,800 feet on August 16th and sets a
>world high altitude parachute jump (where he breaks the sound barrier with
>his body) and freefall record that still stands today.
>
>1961 -- Current Official Altitude Record Set: Commander Malcolm Ross and
>Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather of the U.S. Navy ascend to
>113,739.9 feet in 'Lee Lewis Memorial,' a polyethylene balloon. They land
>in the Gulf of Mexico where, with his pressure suit filling with water,
>and unable to stay afloat, Prather drowns. "
>
>Some history
><http://www.balloonlife.com/publications/balloon_life/9709/racespace.htm>http://www.balloonlife.com/publications/balloon_life/9709/racespace.htm
>
>"Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, before the U.S. space program sent
>astronauts up in liquid-fuel rockets, a small group of daring, brilliant
>men made the first exploratory flights into the upper stratosphere to the
>edge of outer space. They made the flights suspended beneath plastic balloons.
>
>They saw things no one had ever seen, and they experienced conditions no
>one was sure they could survive. Reaching the edge of space was not
>designed as pre-rocket space exploration. These projects were looking for
>safe ways to return pilots of jet aircraft back to earth should they have
>to bail out above 40,000 feet.
>
>Captain Joe Kittinger would make five high altitude flights, Lt. Col.
>David Simons stayed aloft for a full day and night in a primitive
>pressurized capsule to become one of the first to see the curvature of the
>earth."
>
>mike
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Rodent of Unusual Size
> [<mailto:Ken.Coar@Golux.Com>mailto:Ken.Coar@Golux.Com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 4:24 AM
> > To: Internet Coars; John & Deborah Carl; Sandip Sengupta;
> > Lost-Archivists@Golux.Com; Flatware or Road Kill?
> > Subject: [Fwd: Outer Space Skydive Planned]
> >
> >
> > It is somehow reassuring that the benevolent insanity gene
> > has not yet gone from the race.. :-) If he does not make
> > it, I think he is a clear Darwin Award candidate.
> > --
> > #ken P-)}
> >
> > Ken
> Coar <<http://Golux.Com/coar/>http://Golux.Com/coar/>
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-- Future Platforms :: http://www.futureplatforms.com/ t +44 (0) 1273 699529 // m +44 (0) 7971 781422 // e tom@futureplatforms.com
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