Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Essay: ADVENTURE & THE AMERICAN INDIVIDUALIST
I would have no pay in money for hurling my body into space. There would be no crowd to watch and applaud my landing (there was later). Nor was there any scientific objective to be gained. No, there was a deeper reason for wanting to jump, a desire I could not explain. It was a love of the air and sky, the lure of adventure, the appreciation of beauty. It lay beyond the descriptive words of men—where immortality is touched through danger, where life meets death on equal plane; where man is more than...
To read the entire article, you must be a TIME subscriber. Already registered? Sign in below
Current print subscribers to register
Subscribe now to get TIME All Access
Email, Password or Region is incorrect
A required form parameter was missing.
The System is currently down. Please try again in a few minutes.
Email Address is invalid
Password is blank
Most Popular »
- E.T. Turns 30: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Our Favorite Extraterrestrial
- How Cash Keeps Poor People Poor
- 15-Year-Old Creates Test for Pancreatic Cancer
- Nevada Ghosts: Rare Photos From an A-Bomb Test
- Obama Stumbles? Why the President's Right to Talk About Bain
- 10 Dangerous Products You Might Have in Your Home
- Could a Fertility Gene Discovery Lead to New Male Contraception?
- Euro Crisis: Why A Greek Exit Could Be Much Worse Than Expected
- Fourth Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Case Confirmed in Georgia, Possible Fifth
- Star Wars Turns 35: How TIME Covered the Film Phenomenon
- Researchers Probe the Potential Health Benefits of Palm Oil
- A Visit with Turkey's Controversial Religious Movement
- Feeding the Planet Without Destroying It
- Bubble on the Potomac
- Falcon's Liftoff: How a Private Firm Could Change Space Exploration
- The Fatal Flight of the Superjet 100: Why Did It Slam Into a Mountain?
- Learning That Works
- The Man Who Remade Motherhood
- Bibi's Choice
- Seoul: 10 Things to Do
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
