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OverviewA few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier. By the time Kittinger was shot down in Vietnam in 1972, his Air Force career was already legendary. He had made a name for himself at Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico, as a test pilot who helped demonstrate that egress survival for pilots at high altitudes was possible in emergency situations. Ironically, Kittinger and his pre-astronaut colleagues would help propel Americans into space using the world's oldest flying machine--the balloon. Kittinger's work on Project Excelsior--which involved daring high-altitude bailout tests--earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross long before he earned a collection of medals in Vietnam. Despite the many accolades, Kittinger's proudest moment remains his free fall from 102,800 feet during which he achieved a speed of 614 miles per hour. > In this long-awaited autobiography, Kittinger joins author Craig Ryan to document an astonishing career. Selected by Popular Mechanics as a Top Book of 2010 Full Product DetailsAuthor: Joe Kittinger , Craig Ryan , Neil ArmstrongPublisher: University of New Mexico Press Imprint: University of New Mexico Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.408kg ISBN: 9780826348043ISBN 10: 0826348041 Pages: 272 Publication Date: 30 April 2011 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsAuthor InformationCraig Ryan is the author of Magnificent Failure: Free Fall from the Edge of Space and The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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