NOVA Online | Escape! | Skydive from the Stratosphere

Play Skydive from the Stratosphere (145k)
(Shockwave required)

Skydive from the Stratosphere
On August 16, 1960, Joe Kittinger stood at the edge of his balloon's gondola, 19 and a half miles above the Earth's surface, and leapt out into the near vacuum of the stratosphere. Almost 14 minutes later he landed on solid ground. To say that Kittinger's jump was a daring and courageous feat would be a vast understatement...but there was a purpose to his gallantry. His team's findings would hopefully benefit those unfortunate high-flying pilots needing to eject at high altitudes.

Skydive from the Stratosphere is a reenactment of Kittinger's record-breaking jump—a reenactment that puts you in Joe Kittinger's pressure boots.

A great deal of research and testing occurred before Kittinger's skydive from the stratosphere. You'll benefit from some of what was learned—you'll need to deploy a stabilizing chute to keep from spinning out of control, for example. But the rest you'll need to figure out for yourself.

Don't worry, though. Yes, you probably won't survive your first attempt, but that's OK. Just click Start Over and you'll be given new life...and a new chance to make the jump.

Skydive from the Stratosphere (145k)
You will need the Shockwave plugin
Download Skydive from the Stratosphere
These will run as mini-applications on your computer:
    Windows 95/98/NT: sdzip9.exe (1.3MB)
    Windows 3.x: sdzip3.exe (1.5MB)
    Macintosh: skydive.sit.hqx (1.9MB)

The Windows downloads are self-extracting ZIP archives: double-click the .exe file (sdzip9.exe or sdzip3.exe) to extract the Skydive mini-application (skyd95.exe or skyd31.exe), then run the mini-application.
Text version of Skydive from the Stratosphere
You can't play this version, but you do have access to all of the activity's content.