Jumping From Space from Mark Gray on Vimeo.
By 1959, Kittinger had already distinguished himself as one of the top jet fight pilots of his time. His skill led to military recommendations for his transfer into an experimental aviation programs. From 1959-1960 Kittinger served as the ‘Test Director’ for Project Excelsior, a cutting edge military program aimed at testing methods of high altitude escape and discovering the physical limitations of a human body in free-fall. In other words, Kittinger volunteered to take a helium balloon to the edge of space, strap himself an untested parachute system, and then jump from the highest point in the atmosphere ever attempted by a human being just to answer the scientific question of “Can a pilot actually attempt such a feat and survive?”
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