Colonel Joseph Kittinger was a retired Air Force command pilot who set a record in 1960 for the longest freefall skydive.
- Died: December 9, 2022. (Who else died on December 9?)
- Details of death: Died of lung cancer at the age of 94.
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Aviation Hero
Colonel Joseph Kittinger was a command pilot in the U.S. Air Force. From 1959 until 1960, he was part of Project Excelsior, which was researching high altitude pilot bailouts. On August 16, 1960, he set a record for the longest freefall at 4 minutes and 36 seconds before deploying his parachute after jumping out of a gondola at 102,800 feet. The jump was also the record for the highest parachute jump. During his third tour of duty in 1972 in the Vietnam War, he shot down a MiG-21 North Vietnamese plane. Later that year, his plane was shot down and he spent almost a year in the POW camp known as the “Hanoi Hilton.” After retiring from the Air Force, he completed the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2012, he was the capsule commander for the Red Bull Stratos project and helped Felix Baumgartner break his record for the highest parachute jump which was broken again by Alan Eustace in 2014.
Notable Quote
“You’ve got to remember that space is a vacuum. There’s no pressure, so when I jumped I accelerated for about the first 20 seconds and reached terminal velocity at 614 mph. From then on, I slowed down. When the parachute opened, I was doing about 150 mph.” – He told Florida Trend about his record freefall in 2011
Tributes to Colonel Joseph Kittinger
Full Obituary: WESH
