India Balloonist Sets Highest Flight Mark

ap on Yahoo ^ | 11/26/05 | RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM - ap

[struwwelpeter]

This is a great line: Consumers of news now understand that, as Eastland says, ``news is a thing made, a product, and that media with certain beliefs and values once made the news and then presented it in authoritative terms, as though beyond criticism.

[struwwelpeter]

Even the achievements of these heroes don't count in this category, I think a salute to these space pioneers is in order anyway.

Lt. Cdr. Victor Prather and Cdr. Malcolm Ross in Gondola, May 4, 1961

[Oblongata]

And then there's Jospeh Kittinger who parachuted from a balloon at 102,800 feet in 1960. He actually is the only person ever to break the sound barrier without an aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger

[Oblongata]

Joseph Kittinger: