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Daily Survival Guide
Jul. 2nd, 2010 08:34 am______________________________________
On this day in 1982, Larry Walters, a truck driver from North Hollywood, California, gained fame when he attached 45 weather balloons to a lawn chair, rocketing himself 16,000 feet into the air. Walters anchored his lawn chair to his Jeep, attached the helium-filled balloons, and with the help of friends, strapped himself into it.
Expecting a lazy ride, he was surprised to find himself shot into the freezing upper atmosphere when they cut the tethers. Walters was spotted by a pilot from Los Angeles International Airport. Fighting numbness, he shot out the balloons gradually, lowering himself safely into power lines below. He was charged $1,500 by the Federal Aviation Administration for the stunt.
