At 7:15 in the morning on this day (August 7) in 1974, a slight figure dressed in black stepped off of the edge the World Trade Center's north tower and onto a wire he'd secretly strung across to the south tower. For the next 45 minutes, Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers a total of eight times as crowds gathered below to watch him span the void.

Suspended a quarter of a mile in the air, Petit knelt and lay down on the wire, once even looking down to the courtyard below as he reveled in the culmination of six years of planning what he called "le coup."

Told that police planned to send a helicopter to pluck him from his perch, Petit finally surrendered himself to the waiting NYPD, later claiming that their rough treatment of him was the most dangerous part of his stunt.

Petit's astonishing high-wire act made him an instant celebrity and garnered affection for the brand-new buildings, which had been criticized for a lack of character.