Rockets and shit

I watched the first 2 hours of the Discovery Channel special "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions." It was pretty interesting watching the test pilots go through training and then strap themselves to a controlled bomb.

I was reminded of the story of Joe Kittenger, who fell to Earth from 31,330 miles above the surface after leaping from the Excelsior III hot air balloon. It was a 14min and 39 second free fall. Here's a video detailing it.