Joe W. Kittinger

“For those who are fascinated with the history of flight, Come Up and Get Me will serve as an introduction to a new and unforgettable chapter. I am confident they will enjoy the adventure as much I have.”

—Neil Armstrong, from the Foreword

Just before 7:00am on August 16, 1960, United States Air Force Colonel (then Captain) Joe Kittinger hovered in a tiny gondola at 102,800 feet and took in the scenery. Nineteen miles below he could see the gentle curve of the earth’s surface.Above him, the sun shined brilliantly against the pitch black backdrop of deep space. It was a spectacular sight, but Kittinger was eager to be back on the ground and there was only one way to get there. He grabbed the sides of the gondola’s door, inched his boots to the edge, and plunged forward.

Thirteen minutes and forty-five seconds later, after achieving a top free fall speed of 614 miles per hour, and setting historical records for the longest and highest parachute jump and longest free fall, Kittinger landed safely in the New Mexico desert near Holloman Air Force Base. Project Excelsior, the goal of which was to demonstrate that egress survival for pilots at high altitude was possible in emergency situations, was a success. Ironically, Kittinger and his pre-astronaut colleagues had also helped pioneer the systems and processes that would propel Americans into space using the world’s oldest flying machine—a balloon

After Project Excelsior, which earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, Kittinger returned to his fighter pilot roots. He served three tours in the Vietnam War, was shot down in 1972 and spent eleven months in the infamous North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp known as the “Hanoi Hilton.” A few years after his release in 1973, he retired from the Air Force and once again turned to ballooning. This time, his primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. However, despite the many accolades, Kittinger’s proudest moment remains his epic free fall from the upper stratosphere.

2010 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Kittinger’s record-shattering mission to the edge of space and to mark the occasion, the University of New Mexico Press is proud to release Come Up and Get Me. In this long-awaited autobiography, featuring a foreword by Neil Armstrong, Kittinger joins author Craig Ryan to document an astonishing career.