4-year-old Kenneth Patrick Ward was a big fan of Sci-Fi television programs. He kept telling his mother that one day he was going to fly out the window and off into space.
That day came on March 18, 1954, in Brooklyn, NY. Kenneth climbed out of a window in his family’s apartment and prepared for take-off. It was estimated that he was about 25-feet (7.6 meters) off the ground.
Luckily, a 16-year-old girl named Marilyn Schroth spotted Kenneth just as he was about to leap and ran along the sidewalk to catch him. His rocketship made a perfect landing in her arms.
Both Kenneth and Marilyn were unharmed. Unfortunately for Kenneth, his career as an astronaut was forever grounded.