Eagle Biography
Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr.
The holder of numerous world ballooning records, Joseph Kittinger began his Air Force
career in 1950 through the Aviation Cadet Program. Following a tour in fighters, he was
assigned to several Air Force high-altitude balloon projects and became one of the
pioneers of the early space program. In 1957, he made the first flight of the Manhigh
program, setting a balloon altitude record of 96,000 feet while wearing a full pressure
suit inside a tiny sealed capsule.
His next program was Project Excelsior, which tested
man's ability to survive high altitude bailouts. His first parachute jump from a balloon
at 76,000 feet nearly ended in disaster when a failure of his stabilization chute caused a
spin which rendered him unconscious. He was saved by his automatic parachute opener and
continued undaunted in the program of high altitude jumps. His most significant jump
occurred in 1960 when he stepped from a balloon at an altitude of 102,800 feet,
freefalling to 18,000 feet before opening his parachute and landing in the desert of New
Mexico.
Falling at speeds up to 714 mph through air temperatures down to minus 94 degrees
Fahrenheit, this 4 1/2-minute jump set records that still stand today for the highest
ascent in a balloon, the highest parachute jump, the longest freefall, and the fastest
speed by a man through the atmosphere. Frustrated at not flying in the Korean War,
Kittinger volunteered for three combat tours in Vietnam, and served as commander of the
famous 555th "Triple Nickel" Tactical Fighter Squadron flying F-4s. He downed a MiG-21
before he himself was shot down on 11 May 72, after which he spent 11 months in captivity
as a POW.
He subsequently continued his distinguished career and retired as a colonel in
1978. While working at Martin Marietta Aerospace as an engineer, he was able to devote his
time to his old love of ballooning. He won the Gordon-Bennett balloon races in 1982, 1984,
and 1985 before accomplishing his most ambitious feat--a solo balloon crossing of the
Atlantic.
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On 14 September 1984, a crowd of 1,000 joined in Caribou, Maine, to sing "God
Bless America" as Joe Kittinger boarded a helium balloon called Rosie
O'Grady to begin his most dangerous flight. His objective was to be the
first aviator to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo in a balloon--a feat at which
six men had previously failed. After launch, Kittinger traveled over 3,500
miles at altitudes ranging between 10,000 and 17,000 feet. Although beset by
cold, fatigue, and tricky winds, he successfully completed the historic flight
in 3 1/2 days, crash-landing in northern Italy on 18 September. With this
successful flight, Kittinger also set a record for the longest solo balloon
flight as well as a distance record for this class of balloon.
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