The U.S. Air Force pilot who held the record for the highest parachute jump for more than 50 years has died. Retired Col. Joseph Kittinger died Friday in Florida at age 94. Kittinger gained worldwide fame in 1960 when he jumped from a balloon-lifted gondola that took him nearly 20 miles above the New Mexico desert. Dressed in a pressure suit, he hit speeds of over 600 miles per hour before the thickening air and then his parachute slowed him down. Kittinger also served as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. He was shot down in 1972 and spent 11 months in a Hanoi prisoner of war camp.
Kittinger, then an Air Force captain and pilot, gained worldwide fame when he completed three jumps over 10 months from a gondola that was hoisted into the stratosphere by large helium balloons. Project Excelsior was aimed at helping design ejection systems for military pilots flying high-altitude missions.
Kittinger's record jump came on Aug. 16, 1960, in the New Mexico desert. His pressure suit malfunctioned as he rose, failing to seal off his right hand, which swelled to twice normal size before he jumped from 102,800 feet — more than 19 miles above the surface. “There’s no way you can visualize the speed,” Kittinger told Florida Trend magazine in 2011. “There’s nothing you can see to see how fast you’re going. You have no depth perception. If you’re in a car driving down the road and you close your eyes, you have no idea what your speed is. It’s the same thing if you’re free falling from space. There are no signposts. You know you are going very fast, but you don’t feel it. You don’t have a 614-mph wind blowing on you.
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Joseph Kittinger, who set longtime parachute record, diesThe U.S. Air Force pilot who held the record for the highest parachute jump for more than 50 years has died
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Joseph Kittinger, who set longtime parachute record, diesFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Retired Air Force Col. Joseph Kittinger, whose 1960 parachute jump from almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the Earth stood as a world record for more than 50 years, died Friday in Florida.
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Joseph Kittinger, who set longtime parachute record, diesThe U.S. Air Force pilot who held the record for the highest parachute jump for more than 50 years has died.
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