A retired Air Force colonel who held the record for the highest parachute jump for more than 50 years has died after a battle with lung cancer.
Colonel Joseph Kittinger died December 9. He was 94 years old.
Kittinger gained worldwide attention in 1960 when he made three jumps from large helium balloons miles above the ground, from the edge of space.
He almost didn't survive the first one when his gear malfunctioned and he went into a spin that was 22 times the force of gravity.
However, the third time proved to be a charm. On Aug. 16, 1960, the Tampa native successfully jumped from 102,800 feet -- nearly 20 miles in the air -- plummeting toward Earth at a speed of 600 miles per hour. The free fall lasted for four-and-a-half minutes.
"There's no way you can visualize the speed. There's nothing you can see to see how fast you're going. You have no depth perception," Kittinger told Florida Trend magazine in 2011. "If you're in a car driving down the road and you close your eyes, you have no idea what your speed is. It’s the same thing if you're free falling from space. There are no signposts. You know you are going very fast, but you don't feel it. You don't have a 614-mph wind blowing on you. I could only hear myself breathing in the helmet."
Kittinger's record stood until 2021 when it was broken by Austrian Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from 24 miles and reached 844 mph, the Associated Press reported. Kittinger served as an advisor for the feat.
After retiring from the Air Force in 1978, during which he served three tours in Vietnam as a pilot, Kittinger settled in Orlando. A local legend in the city, a park there has been named in his honor.
The United States Parachute Association said a memorial service for Kittinger will be planned for January.
Related
Related
