National Aviation Hall of Fame...
Where Legends land… Dreams take flight Joseph Kittinger, Jr.
War Veteran, POW, first to fly solo across the Atlantic in a helium balloon in 1984, & won the Gordon-Bennett balloon races in 1982, 1984, & 1985.
And if you prefer: VIEW BIG SCREEN VIDEO!
On August 16, 1960... Joseph Kittinger jumped his last, all Excelsior jump; doing so from an air-thin height of 102,800 feet (31,334 meters). From that nearly 20 miles altitude, his tumble toward terra firma took some 4 minutes and 36 seconds...
Exceeding the speed of sound during the fall, Kittinger used a small stabilizing chute before a larger, main parachute opened in the denser atmosphere. He safely touched down in barren New Mexico desert, 13 minutes 45 seconds after he vaulted into the void...
The jump set records that still stand today, among them, the highest parachute jump, the longest freefall, and the fastest speed ever attained by a human through the atmosphere...
