ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: 1961
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Captain Joseph W Kittinger, Martin Caidin - The Long, Lonely Leap
Dutton, 1961
249 str.
tvrdi povez
stanje: vrlo dobro

First Edition

Illustrated

RETKO!

THE LONG, LONELY LEAP
by Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., USAF, with Martin Caidin, author of The Astronauts, etc.
With a Foreword by Colonel John Paul Stapp. USAF (MC) and an Epilogue by Captain Marvin Feldstein, USAF (MC)
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS IN FULL COLOR AND BLACK-AND-WHITE
In an open gondola hung beneath a shimmering cloud of plastic, a man ascends to the awesome height of 102,800 feet. He looks about him at a world that is not the world of man. The atmosphere of his planet lies beneath his feet. The velvet blackness of space is close enough to reach out and touch. He is absolutely alone. Then he jumps...
The Long, Lonely Leap is the intensely dramatic and unique personal story of Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. and his great parachute jumps from record altitudes in pioneering research for the United States Air Force. Beginning with his boy-hood and youth in Florida, where he explored wilderness waterways and was a professional speed-boat racer, Captain Kittinger describes his experiences as an Air Force aviation cadet, fighter-bomber pilot and test pilot. In 1957 he soared to 96,000 feet in a sealed capsule as test pilot of Project Man High, the high-altitude balloon pro-gram studying man`s ability to function usefully as part of a man-machine system in a near-space environment. Then, after work with the Escape Section of the Aerospace Medical Laboratory, Captain Kittinger became Chief and volunteer test subject of Project Excelsior, the program aimed at developing a parachute by which a man could survive escape at extreme altitudes. To put the new Beaupre chute, and related equipment developed by the team, to practical test, Captain Kittinger made his three great jumps-Excelsior 1. II. and III.

These courageous jumps reached their climax in his famous record leap from the very edge of space itself, almost 20 miles above the earth. This drop included a free fall lasting more than an in-credible 41% minutes, during which Captain Kittinger reached a falling speed of 614 miles per hour before his parachute finally opened at 18,000 feet. Captain Kittinger describes the preparations for the balloon ascent, and the actual ascent it self. He tells of floating for eleven minutes in the alien world of space, 102.800 feet up. Then. the descent. Using an actual tape recording of his words as he fell, Kittinger relates bis impressions, vividly re-creating this magnificent and terrifying experience.

With Captain Kittinger working in a unique partnership with Martin Caidin, renowned aviation writer, pilot, and author of over two dozen books, the two men flew and spent months together to re-create the gripping events of this story. Their fast friendship and combined talents have enabled Captain Kittinger to give us a book that is both a suspenseful account of his own highly dangerous work and the story of Air Force efforts to develop new equipment to make it possible for pilots safely to abandon their craft at the great altitudes now being reached. The Long, Lonely Leap is a truly magnificent account of the personal adventures of a pioneer of the ex citing new frontiers of modern aviation and space exploration.

CONTENTS
Foreword by Colonel John Paul Stapp,
USAF (MC)
Introduction
Prologue
I. As the Twig Is Bent
II. Escape Times Three
III. A Fascinating, Deadly New World
IV. `Joe, You`ve Joined the Club...`
V. Heritage
VI. High Dive
VII. One Hell of a Team
VIII. First Motion
IX. Ascent for Excelsior I
X. Somebody Was There With Me
XI. A Roaring Success
XII. Green Light for Excelsior III
XIII. Moment of Truth
XIV. The Last Eleven Minutes
XV. `Lord, Take Care of Me Now...`
XVI. Mission Accomplished
Epilogue by Captain Marvin Feldstein, USAF (MC)
Acknowledgments


Nonfiction