He wanted to jump the Grand Canyon in 1968. But being on public land he relocated it to a place in Idaho: the Snake River. On September 8 1974 his rocket-powered Evel Knievel X-2 launched, pulled its chute prematurely, and drifted down to the river below (but his machine did technically cross the distance before being driven backward).
Today, fans of Star Wars may have Luke Skywalker or The Mandalorians as heroes they emulate, but for kids in the early 1970s it was real-life daredevils like Knievel, who really did fly through the air that got remembered.
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