Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday, November 22, 1959 by the awesome any quiet as he began his os aloft, Kittinger to observe the earth and quite a panorama,” he said. “With no door: Cn I could look right out.” the gondola) “The sky was quite dark brief had sky. atetet er the balloon pulled him “Tt was but not a real contrast as I thy previously seen it,’ he said. He’ referred to his feat in 1957 of esaniie to an aletuite of 96,000 feet in a balloon, then a record. For that feat he won a Distinguished Flying Cross. had - Capt. Kittinger said Saturday when he tenched an alti- tude of 76,400 feet Monday he made a final check of his gear, knew it would work and stepped into space. “J didn’t lose consciousness at any time and I knew my relative position (whether he was falling head or feet downward) at all times,” he recalled quietly. ik didn’t see the balloon once I left it. The first part of the free fall was face down and by the time I had rolled on my I couldn’t back see the balloon.” Although the temperature when he left the balloon was 104 degrees below zero, he said he was not cold because his cloning was heated by batteries. Immediately after he landed at a predetermined spot — on the vast White Sands Missile Range near here Capt. Kit- | tinger was pronounced in “‘perfect condition” and returned > to his home base, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in DayAssociated Press Capt. Joseph W. ‘Kittinger dr. wearing ‘part of sSe jumps made from 76,400 feet elec 3 Wirephoto uniform altitude. ton, Ohio. He plane. — returned Teecesetestasccetae 0.0 0 + 6.4 0 oo but I didn’ t have feet across, and 300 feet in height. As 2,4 0.9ore ra 4.9. . tetete OURS eens 2% - rere + ‘ere tere: “or rare! aso eee o 2"0"s busy I’m sure keeping three-minute descent when the only sound was that of his oe an hour through the body speeding downward at ae rarified atmosphere. “Occasionally you make turns as you. fall and this causes a disturbance of the air flow around you,” he said. ‘This air “disturbance” was the only sound he could hear. -Kittinger, wearing a partial pressure suit and winter flight clothing, soared to 76,400 feet encased in a metal gondola beneath the plastic balloon which measured 117 moments 2,9, ore ‘or eroe. Pos ° alone here Friday eae eeses +,*, ois nn at Beate pata ety =P8, os I was > A em ote, 2. 2°. sate 2,5 ofevecetecet es:eatetetatateceterstoteer 7, 0) S ae 0'e eo" an 48.9.4 a°e'e 069 on + ooeeseeey revetotet "o70"s"> ser FS tp ff struck He was _ way. “too you feel some apprehension,” too. bad, wasn’t he was night in a jet trainer +6 ef ¢ 8 8D @. *.2.9,¢. 29098 SR OID nn ose oge ces SKSta tate aes "*"*necescree otooes “ereratetens teat ore corer rore rare etaters Bote ngtsOO re "er ee MeoFOP o Oe ° SSeS oe it really “But was a help in this time to worry.” and ate®, oo “ “In any parachute jump Kittinger, 31, said. way, 2 bo .8 * 90. *, > ee pt eta’ ‘a aPan < ee all me ‘e e “tate “6 se . +.rhea oh eteterePaMelarate tate atatetet tere ste ct timeter. He was conscious busy” to be scared. ere S05 4° #62 e525 tatet ec>0P0.*,?, ege nr ete? @ FQ ALAMOGORDO, N.M., Nov. 21 (UPI) There Was: no. sensation of falling or speed outside the sound,” papacy Joseph W. Kittinger Jr., said Saturday. Kittinger, an Air Force captain who on Monday set a parachute jump record of nearly 15 miles, said he occupied’ himself during a 12-mile fall before his chute opened by checking his speed and altitude on a stop watch and al- ertae e" a ceetasetatee #9009. 2.669. 2.9.8.6. + oreo, OO "are" ret 'o*" et et, reeset KA OOOO He Just ‘Kept Busy’ On 15-Mile Jump |