ESPN 30 for 30 Angry Sky: TV Schedule and Nick Piantanida Documentary Preview

ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series has become appointment viewing for sports fans over the past few years, and its latest installment should be eye-opening for those who aren't familiar with Nick Piantanida's wild story. 

Thursday evening, 30 for 30 will debut Angry Sky, the story of a daredevil who aspired to break the free-fall parachute record in 1966.

Below you'll find all of the important viewing information, a trailer and a preview for the premiere of Angry Sky, which was directed by Jeff Tremaine, who also directed 30 for 30's The Birth of Big Air.   

When: Thursday, July 30

Start Time: 8 p.m. ET

Watch: ESPN

Piantanida was a thrill-seeker, plain and simple. To throttle through space and try to land back on the ground 17 minutes later indicated as much. 

But it's the complexity of the character and his aspiration that make Angry Sky one of the year's most compelling 30 for 30 stories. 

"At the height of the space race, Piantanida would launch the first civilian space program," ESPN MediaZone's Jennifer Cingari wrote. "His young wife, Janice, would stand by him as he risked his life and their livelihood to achieve a dream that had become an obsession." 

That obsession dealt with breaking the free-fall parachute record formerly held by Col. Joe Kittinger of the U.S. Air Force, who assisted Felix Baumgartner with his death-defying and earth-shattering Red Bull Stratos jump in 2012.

To understand the gravity of the Stratos jumps, here's what Kittinger told ESPN.com's Ryan McGee back in 2012 about the solitary feeling of lingering in space prior to taking the leap: 

"

I stood on that ledge, and there beneath my feet was Earth, 500 miles in each direction, the brightest, bluest thing I'd ever seen. But when I looked up, it was the blackest thing I'd ever seen. Suddenly you realize that it isn't sky. It's space. And all you hear is you. Your breath, your movements. It was so still and so quiet that it was downright shocking.

"

Hailing from Union City, New Jersey, Piantanida was an unassuming long-distance truck driver, according to NJ.com's Ted Sherman.

However, a seemingly ordinary job title didn't limit Piantanida to mundane activities during his time away from work. According to the Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore, Piantanida tried to scale Angel Falls in Venezuela and dabbled in the exchange of venomous snakes prior to his daring leap from outer space.  

Beyond the depth of Piantanida's character, the time of his emergence on a national stage serves as one of the more interesting components of his story. 

Unlike Baumgartner, Piantanida performed his Stratos jump when the country was just starting to scrape the surface of space exploration. Keep in mind, his idyllic conquest took shape three years before the first American moon landing. 

Combine the uncertainty of a new frontier with the technological and logistical unknowns that came with it, and you have a formula for gripping real-life drama. 

In a documentary that traces Piantanida's desire for greatness on a grand stage while outlining a fascinating family dynamic, Angry Sky offers a thorough profile of one of the more captivating and unknown figures to linger on the periphery of the mainstream sports universe.