Joseph Kittinger

The person you are asking about is Joseph Kittinger who accomplished a number of pioneering high-altitude feats during the 1950s and 1960s.

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Kittinger's most famous first came while he held the rank of Captain in the US Air Force.

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On 16 August 1960, Kittinger jumped from a balloon high in the stratosphere to make the longest skydive from the highest altitude in history.

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It is a common misconception that Kittinger exceeded the speed of sound during his fall, but this was not the case. He did reach a peak velocity of 614 mph (988 km/h), however, a mark that still stands as the fastest speed ever reached by a human without a vehicle.

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Though Kittinger fell short of supersonic speeds, he did get pretty close and achieved a maximum of about Mach 0.9, or 90% of the speed of sound.

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Joe Kittinger was born in 1928 and became interested in aeronautics at a young age. He had made his first solo fight by the age of 17 and joined the Air Force by 21. Kittinger received his wings in 1950 and served as a pilot in the 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany until 1953.

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In 1954, he became a test pilot for the Air Force Missile Development Center at Holloman AFB in New Mexico where Kittinger flew experimental fighters and became involved in aerospace medical research. One project he participated in was a rocket sled experiment that accelerated Colonel John Paul Stapp to high speeds in order to determine how gravitational stress affects the human body.

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Stapp later became a leader of the Air Force's high-altitude research program and recommended Kittinger as a test pilot. This research effort explored the ability of humans to survive and function at high altitudes and helped support the early space program.

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Kittinger first joined a program called Project Man High in 1956. This program experimented with using a balloon to carry a man to high altitude in order to study the effects of cosmic rays on human physiology and psychology.

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The balloon reached such high altitudes that the pilot flew above 99% of the Earth's atmosphere in a space-like environment for extended periods of time. Due to the low density at such extreme heights, the balloons used were massive with a diameter over 172 ft (53 m) and a volume of 2 million ft3 (56,600 m3). Suspended beneath was a gondola containing a cramped capsule for the lone pilot.

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Kittinger completed the first Man High ascent on 2 June 1957 and remained aloft for almost seven hours. He reached a peak height of 96,760 ft (29,500 meters) and set a balloon altitude record. Kittinger was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.

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Kittinger next joined the Escape Section of the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory located at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio in 1958. He became a test pilot in Project Excelsior that explored the ability of a human to survive escaping from a high altitude capsule by parachute. Kittinger made a series of three jumps from the open gondola of a balloon while wearing a pressurized suit to survive in the cold sub-zero temperatures and low pressures high above the Earth's surface.

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Kittinger's first high-altitude jump came on 16 November 1959 when he bailed out of the Excelsior I balloon at a height of 76,000 ft (23,165 m) over the New Mexico desert. He carried a small parachute intended to open after Kittinger had fallen for 16 seconds. This small chute would stabilize his decent and prevent Kittinger from going into a flat spin. However, a malfunction in the parachute caused it to open after just two seconds into his fall and wrap around Kittinger's neck. As he began to spiral uncontrollably, Kittinger quickly became unconscious and hurtled toward the Earth while tumbling at a rate of 120 revolutions per minute. Thankfully, his emergency parachute worked as designed and opened automatically once Kittinger had fallen to 10,000 ft (3,050 m). The parachute slowed Kittinger's rate of descent and saved his life.

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Just three weeks after his nearly fatal close call, Kittinger made his next jump from the Excelsior II on 11 December 1959. Kittinger piloted the balloon to 74,700 ft (22,770 m) before he stepped out of the gondola on his trip back to Earth. His record free-fall lasted 55,000 ft (16,765 m) before Kittinger pulled his ripcord and his parachute deployed for a safe landing. The successful jump earned Joseph Kittinger the Leo Stevens parachute medal.

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Captain Kittinger's third and final attempt came on 16 August 1960. He was lifted high into the stratosphere while riding in the gondola of the Excelsior III helium-filled balloon and reached a new record altitude of 102,800 ft (31,330 m). Kittinger's mark broke the previous record held by Major David Simons who had climbed to 101,516 ft (30,942 m) aboard the Man High II balloon in 1957.

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It took Kittinger an hour and a half to float up to his peak altitude, although a problem arose at 43,000 ft (13,105 m) when he felt a sharp pain in his right hand due to a failure in the glove of his pressure suit. Although the problem could have aborted the mission, Kittinger chose to continue.
Kittinger remained at his peak altitude, over three times higher than a commercial airliner typically flies, for about 12 minutes before he stepped off the "Highest Step in the World" to begin his fall to the Earth's surface.

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In addition to his pressure suit, Kittinger carried instruments and safety gear that weighed as much as he did. He also wore several layers of clothing to help protect him against the extremes of his high-altitude environment. During his fall, Kittinger experienced air temperatures as low as -94�F (-70�C)!

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He had fallen for 13 seconds when he opened a small 6 ft (1.8 m) stabilization parachute to prevent spinning, but his free-fall continued for a total of 4 minutes 36 seconds until Kittinger's main 28 ft (8.5 m) parachute deployed at an altitude of 18,000 ft (5,500 m). This chute allowed the pilot to slow his decent and make a gentle, safe landing in the New Mexico desert about eight minutes later. In addition to the extreme pain in his right hand, Kittinger also suffered breathing difficulties between 90,000 and 70,000 ft (27,430 to 21,225 m), but these problems did not prevent his successful jump.

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His amazing jump set several records that still stand today. Kittinger's records include the highest balloon ascent to 102,800 ft, highest parachute jump from 102,800 ft, and longest free-fall of 4 minutes 36 seconds. Kittinger also set a record for the fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere of 614 mph, although he later said he "had absolutely no sense of the speed."

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The Air Force honored his achievements during these three jumps by decorating him with the oak leaf cluster for his Distinguished Flying Cross, and Kittinger was also awarded the C.B. Harmon International Trophy by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960.

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The greatest accomplishments of Projects Man High and Excelsior had been to prove that, given the proper protection, a person could indeed survive in the near-space environment of extremely high altitudes. Kittinger's jumps also demonstrated that a pilot could bail-out from an aircraft at high altitude and free-fall through the Earth's atmosphere to make a safe parachute landing.

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Although his record-setting jump was probably the highlight of this research, it was not the end of Kittinger's involvement in high-altitude ballooning. He next joined Project Stargazer that had begun at Holloman AFB in 1959. The purpose of Stargazer was to take a balloon to high altitude and conduct astronomy experiments while above 95% of the Earth's atmosphere. This vantage point gave observers a view of the stars free from the visual distortion that the atmosphere induces.
Gondola of the Stargazer balloon

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On 13-14 December 1962, Kittinger and astronomer William White rode in the two-person Stargazer balloon to an altitude of 82,200 ft (25,055 m) and hovered in place aboard the gondola. The pair remained aloft for 18 hours while making telescope observations and comparing the brightness of star images to those measured lower in the atmosphere. The long-duration flight also provided an opportunity to gather data on improving life support systems needed to survive at the edge of space for long periods. The ascent was the final high-altitude balloon experiment that Joseph Kittinger participated in.

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Kittinger later volunteered for service in the Vietnam War where he served three combat tours. Kittinger flew 483 missions and became commander of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Unfortunately, Kittinger was shot down on 11 May 1972 and spent nearly a year as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

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Following his release, Kittinger remained in the Air Force until he retired in 1978 with the rank of colonel. He then went to work for the aerospace company Martin Marietta. Among the many decorations Colonel Kittinger earned during his military career are the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Bronze Star Medal with "V" device and two Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 23 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster, and a Presidential Unit Citation.

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Even in retirement, however, the lure of ballooning was too strong for Joseph Kittinger to resist. He began flying balloons around the country and entered several balloon competitions. Kittinger won the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race four times during the 1980s, and his third win allowed Kittinger to retire the prestigious Gordon Bennett Cup.

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He also set a world record in November 1983 by flying a helium balloon over 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from Las Vegas to New York in just 72 hours.

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Kittinger later became the first person to complete a solo balloon flight across the Atlantic Ocean from 14-18 September 1984. Starting in Caribou, Maine, Kittinger landed in Cairo Montenotte, Italy, after a flight time of 83 hours and 40 minutes aboard his balloon the Rosie O'Grady. The flight covered a distance of 3,543 miles (5,702 km) and set records for the longest solo balloon flight to that time and the greatest distance flown by a 3,000 cubic meter helium balloon.

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Joseph Kittinger no longer pursues aviation records, but he has continued to fly all his life. Over the course of his life, Kittinger has flown 78 different types of aircraft and tours the country with his open-cockpit biplane offering to take children on their first flights.

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Kittinger also set a speed record from Philadelphia to Orlando while flying a Piper Cheyenne 400 on 9 February 1986.