Joseph Kittinger Death, Obituary – Air Force Veteran Now Retired Col. Joseph Kittinger, whose parachute jump in 1960 from about 20 miles above the Earth stood as the world record for more than 50 years, passed away on Friday in Florida. His jump set the record for the longest time. He was 94. The news of his passing was shared by former U.S. Representative John Mica and other close friends. Lung cancer was the underlying cause of death. Kittinger, who was an Air Force captain and pilot at the time, became famous all over the world after he successfully conducted three jumps from a gondola that was lifted into the stratosphere by giant helium balloons over a period of ten months.
Ejection systems for military pilots who were engaged in high-altitude operations were one of the primary focuses of the Project Excelsior initiative. Kittinger, who was participating in the project’s first leap in November 1959 and was outfitted with a pressure suit and 60 pounds of equipment, came dangerously close to passing out after his gear failed after he had jumped from a distance of 14.5 miles. After going into a spin that was 22 times the force of gravity, he passed out and lost consciousness. Because his automatic chute opened, he was able to escape danger. Kittinger performed his second jump around four weeks later, this time from a height of slightly over 14 miles above the surface.
This time around, there were no issues to speak of. The date of Kittinger’s record jump was August 16, 1960, and it took place in the desert of New Mexico. His pressure suit developed a malfunction as he climbed higher, and it was unable to seal off his right hand. As a result, his right hand swelled to double its normal size before he decided to leap from 102,800 feet, which is more than 19 miles above the surface. The man from Tampa reached speeds of almost 600 miles per hour while free falling through the thin atmosphere until the steadily increasing density of the air slowed his descent to around 150 miles per hour. When he reached an altitude of 18,000 feet, he opened his parachute.
In 2011, Kittinger stated in an interview with Florida Trend magazine that “There’s no way you can imagine the pace.” There is nothing that you can look at to determine how quickly you are moving. You do not have any perception of depth. If you are traveling down the road in a car and you close your eyes, you will not be able to determine how fast you are traveling. It is exactly the same as when you are falling freely through space. There is not a single signpost in sight. You are aware that you are traveling at a very high speed, yet you do not feel it. You are not being buffeted by a wind that is moving at 614 miles per hour. Only the sound of my own breathing could be heard inside the helmet.