Joseph Kittinger

Joseph Kittinger, born on July 27, 1928, was a distinguished American military pilot and officer in the United States Air Force. His service spanned from 1950 to 1978, during which he achieved the prestigious status of Command Pilot and retired with the rank of colonel. Kittinger is perhaps best known for holding the world record for the highest skydive, an astonishing altitude of one hundred two thousand eight hundred feet, a record he maintained from 1960 until 2012.

His remarkable career included participation in the high-altitude balloon flight projects known as Project Manhigh and Project Excelsior from 1956 to 1960. During these missions, Kittinger became the first individual to fully witness the curvature of the Earth, a testament to his pioneering spirit and adventurous nature.

As a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, Kittinger demonstrated exceptional skill by shooting down a North Vietnamese MiG-21 jet fighter. However, he was later shot down himself, leading to an eleven-month ordeal as a prisoner of war in a North Vietnamese prison, from which he was repatriated in 1973.

In 1984, Kittinger made history again by becoming the first person to complete a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon. His legacy continued into his later years when, at the age of eighty-four, he participated in the Red Bull Stratos project as a capsule communicator, guiding Felix Baumgartner on a twenty-four-mile freefall from the stratosphere, which ultimately broke Kittinger's own record that had stood for fifty-three years.