AN OCEAN OF AIR*

Captain Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger of the U.S Air Force is the man who fell to Earth and lived. Nobody has ever managed to emulate his feat. His passage home from the edge of space, from thin air to thick, illustrates passage home from the edge of space, from thin air to thick, illustrates something extraordinary about our planet. Space is almost close enough to touch. Only twenty miles above our heads in an appalling, hostile environment that would freeze us, and burn us and boil us away. And yet our enfolding layers of air protect us so completely that we don't even realize the dangers. This is the message from Kittinger's flight, and from every one of the pioneers who have sought to understand our atmosphere: We don't just live 'in' the air. We live 'because' of it ~ xv (Prologue)