August 16

If I were to mention Yuri Gagarin, people would in all likelihood, know that I was referring to the first person, from the USSR, to reach outer space in a capsule. Were I then to throw out the name John Glenn everyone would realize that I meant the first person, an American, to go into orbit around the planet. If I, at that point, tossed the name Joseph Kittinger on to the table, my suspicions are that it would elicit a resounding ‘Who?’ from those gathered around it. On the 16^th, in 1960, Kittinger got in to a balloon and rose to an altitude of 102,800 feet. Once there, at the very edge of space, Kittinger stood up and jumped out of the balloon, on purpose. It was, of course, why the U. S. Air Force had put him in the balloon in the first place. By his seemingly reckless act Kittinger became the first person to 1) reach outer space and 2) break the sound barrier; he reached a speed of over 714 miles per hour during his free fall back to earth, and, yes, he survived. Today Kittinger is Vice President of Operations for [I kid you not] Rosie O’Grady’s Flying Circus, in Orlando, Florida.