Project Excelsior

The date was August 16, 1960, and USAF Captain Joseph Kittinger prayed a silent prayer and jumped from the helium balloon, "Excelsior III", at 102,800ft. He was in a free-fall for more than four and a half minutes until his main chute deployed at 18,000ft. It was part of a series of experiments testing new parachutes that were meant to be opened at high altitudes as well as what effect high altitude had on a human being. Not only was the experiment a success, but it was also an amazing, record-breaking skydive from the edge of space.

I saw this video and thought it was too cool not to share. what's even more amazing is that according to Kittinger's instruments, he broke the sound barrier.. he fell towards earth faster than the speed of sound! another thing that makes this even cooler is that he didnt do it for fame or money or media attention.. he did it to test the limits of the human body.

You can read more about Joseph Kittinger and Project Excelsior in a recent interview here: http://curiosociety.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/utterly-alone/

and here's the wikipedia page on it. [which is where i got the pics]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior