![]() They gave an interesting talk together at the National Air and Space Museum not long after, and it was an honor for my daughter and I to meet him. He also assisted with the Red Bull Stratos project, in which Felix Baumgartner broke Joe's record in 2012. Joe directed banner towing and skywriting operations, in addition to flying hot air and gas balloons.įrom: Linnich, Northrine Westfalia, Germany ![]() Joe was shot down over North Vietnam and spent 11 months as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.įor 14 years, Joe was Vice President of Flight Operations for Rosie O'Grady's Flying Circus in Orlando. Joe served three tours of duty in Vietnam. In 1961, Joe co-authored "The Long, Lonely Leap," which detailed his adventures during Project Man High and Project Excelsior. In 1960 Kittinger was awarded the Harmon Trophy for outstanding accomplishments in aeronautics. He reached speeds of up to 714 miles per hour, falling thru air temperatures as low as minus 110 degrees F. He stepped out of the gondola and set a world record for the longest parachute freefall – 4 minutes and 36 seconds. Joe faced life and death decisions in this flight. In 1960, Joe piloted the Excelsior III to an altitude of 102,800 ft, setting a world record for the highest balloon ascent. In 1959, Joe made a parachute jump from an altitude of 76,000 ft and survived. ![]() In 1958, Joe was part of the Project Excelsior, to put man into space and test human ability to survive extremely high altitude bailouts. NASA used the lessons learned from this project in the space program, Project Mercury. In this program, Joe piloted a high altitude balloon, Man High One, with a pressurized gondola and partial pressure suit, to an altitude of 96,000 ft. The purpose of this program was to study cosmic radiation, astronaut selection and training, physiological monitoring and high altitude hardware. Joe became a test pilot for Project Man High. Here he flew experimental jet fighters and participated in aerospace medical research. He flew assignments in Germany, and then was sent to the Air Force Missile Development Center at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Joe Kittinger began his aviation career in 1949 when he was accepted into the US Air Force Aviation School at Goodfellow Air Force Base. Joe's aviation work, and his record setting, brought public notoriety to the sport of ballooning, thus earning him a place in the Ballooning Hall of Fame. And after his retirement from the military, he continued his love of flight with record setting in gas balloons, including crossing the Atlantic solo. His work in the Air Force, with the high altitude testing, certainly was an asset to all aviation. 9, 2022) at the age of 94.Ī profile from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale: Joe was a part of the earliest of modern ballooning history. Joseph William "Joe" Kittinger II, who as a record-setting high-altitude sky diver was the first person to fully witness the curvature of Earth, died on Friday (Dec. Topic: Joe Kittinger, high-altitude skydiver (1928-2022)Ĭol. Profile | register | preferences | faq | search Joe Kittinger, high-altitude skydiver (1928-2022) () Joe Kittinger, high-altitude skydiver (1928-2022) - collectSPACE: Messages
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |