Hardcover with DJ. White spine and sky blue paper over boards. Pictorial DJ. Binding and pages in excellent condition. DJ with mylar protector. 301 pages. No date on title page. Copyright page dated 2003. Complete number line indicating first printing. Signed on the half title page by Capt. Joe Kittinger. Kittinger is a Air Force Colonel and test pilot who (mind-bogglingly) spent much of the late 1950s and early 1960s riding balloons up to the very edge of space and then leaping out. He held records for highest balloon ascent, highest free-fall, and several others among the most extreme aviation records of the pre-spaceflight era. While this book is primarily about Nick Piantanida, Kittinger is often mentioned. (Craig Ryan assisted Kittinger in writing his own autobiography in 2011 - there are no signed copies of that available). Scarce.

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Bibliographic Details

Title

Magnificent Failure: Free Fall from the Edge of Space [signed by Joe Kittinger]

Publisher

U.S.A.: Smithsonian Books

Publication Date

2003

Language

English

ISBN 10

1588341410

ISBN 13

9781588341419

Binding

Hardcover

Edition

1st Edition

Condition

Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition

Very Good

Signed

Signed by Author(s)

Seller catalogs

NASA/Space

About this title

Synopsis

Locked in a desperate Cold War race against the Soviets to find out if humans could survive in space and live through a free fall from space vehicles, the Pentagon gave civilian adventurer Nick Piantanida’s Project Strato-Jump little notice until May Day, 1966. Operating in the shadows of well-funded, high-visibility Air Force and Navy projects, the former truck driver and pet store owner set a new world record for manned balloon altitude. Rising more than 23 miles over the South Dakota prairie, Piantanida nearly perished trying to set the world record for the highest free fall parachute jump from that height. On his next attempt, he would not be so lucky. Part harrowing adventure story, part space history, part psychological portrait of an extraordinary risk-taker, this story fascinates and intrigues the armchair adventurer in all of us.

About the Author

Author of The Preastronauts, Craig Ryan lives in Oregon.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

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