I stumbled across this story and was amazed I never heard of it because its so badass. Joseph Kittinger back in 1960 skydiving out of a helium balloon from space. This Picture is wild. The Youtube is very good also. This dude has some FAT NUTS. This was the third attempt. The first time he lost consciousness at 76,400 feet and went in to a tailspin but his automatic chute saved him after he was falling at 22 G's. The second time was smoother and he jumped OK but it was only from 74,700 feet. Keep reading to hear about the third jump and the one you see in the picture below. (He claims to have broken the sound barrier but officially they could only document him going about 9/10ths the speed of sound)
(Click To Enlarge)
"On August 16, 1960 he made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 102,800 feet (31,300 m). Towing a small drogue chute for stabilization, he fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds reaching a maximum speed of 614 mph (988 km/h or 274 m/s) before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m). Pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size. He set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (4 min), and fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere. These are still current USAF records, but were not submitted for aerospace world records to the FAI."
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