Joseph Kittinger stated that he could only hear himself “breathing in the helmet” while falling to Earth at more than 600 mph.
Joseph Kittinger, a retired US air force colonel who held the world record for a parachute jump, passed away at the age of 94.
Jumping from over 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the Earth in 1960, Kittinger established a world record that stood for over 50 years.
Kittinger’s death due to lung cancer was revealed by former US representative John Mica and other friends.
After accomplishing three dives from a gondola carried into the stratosphere by enormous helium balloons, the former air force captain and pilot attained worldwide celebrity.
The 10 months of jumps were part of Project Excelsior, which aimed to assist in the creation of ejection devices for military pilots conducting high-altitude missions.
In November 1959, Kittinger nearly perished during the project’s first jump. After jumping 14.5 miles while wearing a pressure suit and 60Ibs (27kg) of equipment, his gear malfunctioned (23km).
After losing consciousness during a 22-times-gravity spin, he was rescued when his automatic parachute deployed.
During his second jump four weeks later, 14 miles (22 kilometers) above the surface, there were no issues.
Kittinger performed his record jump in the New Mexico desert in August of 1960. His parachute was deployed at 18,000ft when he was free-falling 19 miles (31.3km) above the ground at speeds exceeding 600mph (5.5km).
In 2011, he stated to Florida Trend magazine: “It is impossible to imagine the pace. There is nothing visible that would indicate your speed. You do not have depth awareness.
“If you close your eyes while driving a car down the road, you are unaware of your speed. It is the same if you are falling freely through space. There are no road signs. You are aware that you are moving incredibly quickly, yet you do not feel it. There is no 614mph wind blowing against you.
“Only my breathing could be heard inside the helmet”
Kittinger conducted three tours of duty during the Vietnam War after his parachute drop. In May 1972, he was shot down over northern Vietnam, where he was subsequently arrested and spent eleven months in a Hanoi prisoner-of-war camp.
In 2012, an Austrian daredevil named Felix Baumgartner leaped from 24 miles (38.6km) over the New Mexico desert, reaching supersonic speeds of 844mph. Kittinger was a consultant on the record jump.
In 1978, he retired from the air force and lived in the Orlando, Florida region, where he became a local celebrity. Sherri, his surviving spouse, survives him.
