Then-Capt. Kittinger free-fell for 4 minutes 37 seconds, reaching speeds over 600 mph.
The leap was a part of early space-age exploration, occurring earlier than people had landed on the moon and when it was unclear whether or not an individual might survive a leap from the sting of area.
Col. Kittinger died of lung most cancers, in accordance with a buddy, former U.S. consultant John L. Mica, the Related Press reported.
It’s with nice unhappiness that we share information of the passing of legendary Membership member Colonel Joseph “Joe” Kittinger, II MED ’63, a distinguished recipient of the 2001 Explorers Membership Medal and an aerospace pioneer. Col. Kittinger handed away at this time – Friday, December 9, 2022, at 94. pic.twitter.com/xQCYKqUXdx
— ExplorersClub (@ExplorersClub) December 9, 2022
The United States Parachute Affiliation known as Col. Kittinger already a outstanding nationwide determine when “he made a protracted, lonely leap from a hot-air balloon 102,800 ft above the Earth,” on Aug. 16, 1960, as a U.S. Air Power captain concerned in Venture Excelsior.
As a part of the venture, he accomplished three jumps over 10 months from a pressurized gondola hoisted into the stratosphere by massive helium balloons — his first try was nearly deadly, however he was undeterred. The venture sought to check whether or not people might survive extraordinarily high-altitude bailouts and to design ejection programs for army pilots.
In his remaining record-breaking leap, he took off from the New Mexico desert sporting a cumbersome strain swimsuit — that might briefly malfunction — and rigged with gear that just about doubled his weight, then fell at report speeds.
It took him 1 hour 31 minutes to climb to his most altitude, whilst he started experiencing extreme ache in his proper hand due to a failure in his strain glove. He remained at peak altitude for round 12 minutes earlier than stepping out of his gondola to free fall, then parachute all the way down to a touchdown.
“There’s no manner you may visualize the pace,” Col. Kittinger advised Florida Development journal in 2011. “There’s nothing you may see to see how briskly you’re going. You don’t have any depth notion. … There aren’t any signposts. I might solely hear myself respiration within the helmet,” he mentioned.
In 1960, he was awarded the Harmon Trophy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for excellent accomplishments in aeronautics.
His report for the very best balloon ascent and the longest parachute free fall would stand for 52 years. It was damaged in 2012, when Col. Kittinger labored as a guide to Austrian Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from 128,000 ft, plummeting to Earth at speeds over 800 mph.
Joseph Kittinger Jr. was born in Tampa in 1928 and have become fascinated with planes at a really younger age, in accordance to the New Mexico Museum of Area Historical past. He attended the College of Florida earlier than making use of for Air Power cadet coaching. He acquired his pilot wings in 1950.
He retired as a colonel in 1978 after a embellished profession with the Air Power, together with serving three excursions in Vietnam as a pilot, the place he spent 11 months as a prisoner of battle, in accordance to the Nationwide Aviation Corridor of Fame.
He continued his trailblazing as an adventurer, setting one other report in 1983 for the longest distance flown in a 1,000-cubic-meter helium balloon.
In 1984, he turned the primary particular person to fly solo throughout the Atlantic Ocean in a helium balloon, from Maine, to the Italian Riviera. A jubilant Col. Kittinger advised reporters on the time that the flight had been “pure, unadulterated journey.” He added “you simply need to go for it; that’s the American manner.”
Col. Kittinger wrote a ebook in 1961, “The Lengthy, Lonely Leap,” and remained energetic in aeronautics initiatives, particularly ballooning, after his retirement. He lived in Orlando, the place a park is known as after him.
