Giles Milton: THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH: THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF JOE KITTINGER.: ‘I rolled over and looked up and there was the balloon just roaring into space. [Then] I realized that the balloon wasn't roaring into space; I was going down at a fantastic rate…'
He had no sense at all that he was falling.
'You determine speed is visual if you see something go flashing by. But nothing flashes by 20 miles up - there are no signposts there and you are way above any clouds.’