The Man Who Touched The Sky

A new book* tells the story of Man's ascent towards the stars, a journey dreamt of since the days of Icarus and the Ancient Greeks.

Acton's new book

It is a story that gathered pace as chemists, engineers and dreamers came together to develop first balloons and later aircraft. Ironically, in The Man Who Touched The Sky the tale culminates with Joe Kittinger - who rode a balloon up to a record 102,400 feet (19.5 miles), looked around... and then jumped. Icarus died when he got too close to the sun and his wings melted; Kittinger survived temperatures below 70 degrees C and a top speed during his freefall of 614mph.

He jumped out of a balloon 100,000 feet up

... wearing a parachute! In fact, testing the parachute, and the special protective suit, was the stated reason Kittinger found himself over the New Mexico desert that day in 1960. (Matching the USSR in the space race also helped - the same week the Soviets put two dogs in space).

Excelsior III, his 200ft diameter helium balloon, reached the upper end of the ozone layer (in the days before that became a buzz word for technical advance gone too far) and was nearly three times higher than the average Jumbo Jet.

So he wasn't barking, then

Far from it - he was very brave. Not content with this record, Kittinger became the first man to cross the Atlantic by balloon in 1984, and enjoys life to this day as, well, a successful sky-writer (smiley faces a speciality). He also flew 483 missions in Vietnam, was shot down near Hanoi and held as a prisoner of war in the 'Hanoi Hilton'.

Back to the jump.

Don't worry, in the time it's taken to get this far, he's still falling. In fact, he was in freefall for an amazing four minutes, 38 seconds before activating his main parachute at 18,000.

Kittinger made the cover of Life magazine and his words recorded before the jump, while not of the 'One small step for man...' standard, remain impressive: "There is a hostile sky above me. Man will never conquer space. He may live in it, but he will never conquer it. "

So this book is a worthy tribute

Indeed. Other books have been written about him, and there's even a Colonel Joe Kittinger Park in his native Florida. Kittinger is also the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his record skydive, not to mention his record-breaking transatlantic balloon ride. But Acton's book will bring Colonel Joe's story to a new generation. It also deals with the strange fascination with space that has overtaken adventurers from pre-history through the Montgolfier brothers and on to the present day.

Just a note, though: anyone hoping to emulate or even beat Kittinger's sky-diving record (which still stands) had better hurry - Frenchman Michel Fournier, American Cheryl Stearns and Australian Rodd Millner all have plans to try and outjump him in the very near future.

All of which should be wonderful publicity for the book!

Not to be confused with...
The Man Who Fell To Earth, who was David Bowie, in a film by Nic Roeg. He was heading in the other direction.

*The Man Who Touched the Sky by Johnny Acton

(Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99 RRP Hardback)

See also:

Skydive from the Stratosphere

(Shockwave game that emulates Kittinger's jump on your desktop!)

Find out about hot-air ballooning online