Today in History: First "space jump" completed

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·@gooddream·
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Today in History: First "space jump" completed
You've heard of skydiving, right?  Well, how about space-jumping.  I have done the first thing, and it was from 13,000 feet or so.  

<center> https://www.history.com/.image/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_768/MTU3OTIzNTgxNDg2MTgwMzAy/joe-kittinger8217s-death-defying-leap-from-the-edge-of-spaces-featured-photo.jpg 
[source](https://www.history.com/.image/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_768/MTU3OTIzNTgxNDg2MTgwMzAy/joe-kittinger8217s-death-defying-leap-from-the-edge-of-spaces-featured-photo.jpg)</center>

Today In 1960, US Air Force Command Pilot Joseph Kittinger took skydiving to a whole different level when he did a solo jump from 31.3 km above the earth's surface (102,800 feet.)  

It was called "The Highest Step" and everything went fine.   Why did he do this?  Well, the objective was to research possible ejection systems for high-flying planes despite the fact that there were not (and still aren't) any planes that were capable of flying to such a distance.  That's all fine and dandy but i think a lot of it was trill-seeking.  

<center> http://ontheedgemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HALO-4.jpg 
[source](http://ontheedgemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HALO-4.jpg)
<sub> he was fine </sub> </center>

There are a lot of issues from jumping at that height.  For one thing, it is 90 degrees below zero (F) and just before you get to that point it is exceptionally hot.  If you enter a spin, the speed at which your body will continue to do so will shake your guts through your skin.... so yeah, this dude is brave AF.   

It took him a full 90 minutes to arrive at that altitude in his 200-foot tall helium-filled balloon.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbVQ33ujzFw
It's only 3 minutes long, you should have a look.   

His record-setting jump stood for a long time and was beaten finally in 2012 by Felix Baumgartner who jumped from a whopping 39km.
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