28 Dec 2012 05:42

The original “space jumper”, (Ret) Col. Joe Kittinger, boldly took the position as Felix Baumgartner’s mentor and sole capsule communicator during the Red Bull Stratos mission. He was the perfect man for the job considering his experience as a U.S. Air Force test pilot and the first man to touch the dark sky from 102,800 ft. Listen to his experience on the BBC World Service Outlook.

You get a clear sense of Joe’s matter-of-fact approach to life when he talks about his depressurized glove during the 1960 balloon flight: “I knew if I told them they’d make me abort and I didn’t want to abort…I didn’t share my problem with them…it [Joe’s hand] would not explode, the blood would seep out through the skin….the hand swelled up in the glove”.

Tags: Joe Kittinger, Felix Baumgartner, Red Bull Stratos, BBC, Outlook, space jump