Joseph Kittinger: The First Man In Space?

On Jul 16, 2006, at 11:25 AM, Omar E. Vega wrote:

> What Gagarin did was not only to get 3 times higher than the balloners
> or at the same altitude than X-15 aircraft pilots that went later up
> there. Gagarin entered orbit !!
> The condition to be considered a spatial travel is to get at least to
> orbit.
>
> Gagarin deserves the recognition of being the pioneer of space
> exploration, no matter he was not an American.
>
> Omar Vega

Dang! I was going to say Icarus was the first, but by that
definition, I guess he wasn't!

doug