# Joseph Kittinger



## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Anyone know about this guy? I heard a story about him on the radio today...turns out he's still alive and resides in Orlando.

A real man's man if you ask me...makes me feel like a total girly boy.










In 1958, Kittinger moved to the Escape Section of the Aeromedical Laboratory at Wright Air Development Center's Aero Medical Laboratory. There, he joined Project Excelsior, which investigated the use of a parachute for escape from a space capsule or high-altitude aircraft. At the time no one knew whether humans could survive a jump from the edge of space.

On November 16, 1959, Kittinger piloted Excelsior I to 76,000 feet (23,165 meters) and returned to Earth by jumping, free falling, and parachuting to the desert floor in New Mexico. The jump almost cost him his life. His small parachute, which served to stabilize him and prevent him from going into a fatal "flat spin," opened after only two seconds of free fall instead of 16, catching Kittinger around the neck and causing him to spiral uncontrollably. Soon he lost consciousness, as he tumbled toward Earth at 120 revolutions per minute. Only his emergency parachute, which opened automatically at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), slowed his descent and saved his life.

In spite of his close call, he continued with the project and the flight of Excelsior II, which took place on December 11, 1959. This balloon climbed to 74,700 feet (22,769 meters) before Kittinger jumped from his gondola, setting a free-fall record of 55,000 feet (16,764 meters) before pulling his parachute ripcord.

The next year, Kittinger set two more records, which he still holds. On August 16, 1960, Kittinger surpassed the altitude record set by Major David Simons, who had climbed to 101,516 feet (30,942 meters) in 1957 in his Man-High II balloon. Kittinger floated to 102,800 feet (31,333 meters) in Excelsior III, an open gondola adorned with a paper license plate that his five-year-old son had cut out of a cereal box. Protected against the subzero temperatures by layers of clothes and a pressure suit--he experienced air temperatures as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius)--and loaded down with gear that almost doubled his weight, he climbed to his maximum altitude in one hour and 31 minutes even though at 43,000 feet (13,106 meters) he began experiencing severe pain in his right hand caused by a failure in his pressure glove and could have scrubbed the mission. He remained at peak altitude for about 12 minutes; then he stepped out of his gondola into the darkness of space. After falling for 13 seconds, his six-foot (1.8-meter) canopy parachute opened and stabilized his fall, preventing the flat spin that could have killed him. Only four minutes and 36 seconds more were needed to bring him down to about 17,500 feet (5,334 meters) where his regular 28-foot (8.5-meter) parachute opened, allowing him to float the rest of the way to Earth. His descent set another record for the longest parachute freefall.










During his descent, he reached speeds up to 614 miles per hour, approaching the speed of sound without the protection of an aircraft or space vehicle. But, he said, he "had absolutely no sense of the speed." His flight and parachute jump demonstrated that, properly protected, it was possible to put a person into near-space and that airmen could exit their aircraft at extremely high altitudes and free fall back into the Earth's atmosphere without dangerous consequences.

But he did not rest on his achievements. Kittinger volunteered for three combat tours in Vietnam, flying 483 missions. On May 11, 1972, he was shot down and spent 11 months in captivity as a prisoner of war. It was during this time, he said, that he dreamt of an around-the-world balloon flight.

He retired from the Air Force in 1978, and began ballooning around the country and entering balloon competitions. Kittinger won the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race four times during the 1980s and retired the trophy after three consecutive victories. In November 1983, he established a new world record by flying a 1,000 cubic-meter (1,308-cubic-yard) helium balloon from Las Vegas, Nevada, to New York, covering 2,001 miles (3,220 kilometers) in 72 hours. The next year, Kittinger became the first person to fly alone by balloon across the Atlantic Ocean. Setting out on September 14, 1984, from Caribou, Maine, in the 3,000-cubic-meter-Rosie O'Grady, he floated 3,543 miles (5,702 kilometers), touching down in Cairo Montenotte, Italy, on September 18, by Kittinger's account, 83 hours and 40 minutes after launch. His flight set a record for both the longest solo balloon flight and a distance record for this class of balloon.

Although after this flight, his record-setting days ended, Joe Kittinger has never stopped flying. He has piloted 78 different types of aircraft over the years and received numerous military and civilian awards and decorations. He is an aviation consultant and a barnstormer, touring around the country with his open-cockpit biplane and taking children on their first airplane rides. A person who helped open the portal to space, in the year 2002, he is still a vital part of the aviation community.

Another story: http://www.af.mil/news/airman/1299/ballon.htm


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Wow! Great story....

( I think the 614 mph should be kmh though, terminal velocity and all that)


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2007)

Brave man


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

I remember seeing a video of one of his his parachute jump/falls & thinking "Ye Gods! The man's mad!"

Very impressive indeed - he definitely had the "right stuff".

I'll see if I can find the video - it was on an Open University cd & I'm not sure where I've put them now.


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Videos:






www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n2AICdVv3g

Imagine free falling for over 4 minutes...that's a damn long fall.


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

jasonm said:


> Wow! Great story....
> 
> ( I think the 614 mph should be kmh though, terminal velocity and all that)


If he's on the edge of space there wouldn't be any (or as much) air to slow him down so maybe he reached these speeds then & slowed down once he hit the atmosphere for real.

Can you tell that I haven't got a clue whaat I'm on about







??????


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## Bladerunner (Jun 4, 2006)

You have to show the bloke respect & a very interesting read, thanks


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## thunderbolt (May 19, 2007)

The thought of looking down and jumping!! No thank you!


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

pauluspaolo said:


> jasonm said:
> 
> 
> > Wow! Great story....
> ...


Yep, your right









Lots of maths here: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

â€œI had absolutely no sense of the speed,â€ Kittinger said. â€œI didnâ€™t hear a sonic boom; I didnâ€™t even hear any whooshing or whistling of the wind. But when I flipped over and looked back at my balloon, it sure was an eerie sight â€" the sky was black as night but I was bathed in sunshine.â€










â€œIt was a helluva long way down, but the quickest way to get there,â€ Kittinger said.


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

I saw this guy on one of the documentary channels a few months ago, amazing bloke. IIRC that failure in his glove led to frostbite. I wish I could remember what the program was.


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Joe prepares to enter the Excelsior gondola prior to a high-altitude jump. Note the sign under the hatch.


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

thunderbolt said:


> The thought of looking down and jumping!! No thank you!


"He ascended to 102,800 feet in Excelsior III, prayed â€œLord, take care of me nowâ€ and walked out. The first step was a doozy."


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## Alas (Jun 18, 2006)

Excuse the language but that is one seriously tough b**tard. Total admiration for the guy. Thanks for the post & the story. Excellent reading.









Cheers

Alasdair


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2007)

Excellent thread ,tough bloke -massive respect


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

That era produced some remarkable men three of my favourite books are:

Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space by Craig Ryan

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin

Chaikin's book is one of my favourite books of all time, it is brilliantly written.

True heroes all IMO.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Can you imagine trying that now......HSE might have something to say about it, bunch of :*****:









I bet he's a nice bloke too! Deep respect...........









Best regards David


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

potz said:


> jasonm said:
> 
> 
> > Wow! Great story....
> ...


Wiki also came up with this, hence my post :



> Higher speeds can be attained if the skydiver pulls in his limbs (see also freeflying). In this case, the terminal velocity increases to about 320 km/h (200 mph or 89 m/s), which is also the maximum speed of the peregrine falcon diving down on its prey. Competition speed skydivers fly in the head down position reaching even higher speeds. *Current world record is 614 km/h or 382 mph*.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Probably


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

potz said:


> Maybe the US mile is shorter than the Imperial one?


Like I tell my mates in the states, the cars may be bigger there but everything else is a lot smaller


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Boxbrownie said:


> potz said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe the US mile is shorter than the Imperial one?
> ...


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Those are two of the most awe inspiring photo`s I think I`ve ever seen



























As has been said respect to the man


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

yeah I wondered about that, where did he take off from and where did he land.

Quite a story and quite a guy!


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

From stratocat.com:


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

I've been obsessing over this for the past twenty-four hours. It absolutely floors me...and to learn he lives less than ninety miles from here...perhaps I should "drop" in on him some time.

Also, just found a site with this VERY cool snippet:

At the end of the video, when Kittinger has just landed, another man runs up, pats him affectionately on the head, and gives him the finger. What was that about, I ask? "Oh, that was Francis Beaupre, the designer of the parachute. The one-finger salute was for all the people who said we couldn't do it. There are always going to be people around telling you you can't do stuff. Just give them that one-finger salute and keep going."

Kinda says it all, eh?


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Found a nice short video here while searching for speaking engagements.

Not that I'm stalking the man or anything.


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## AndyF (Jul 3, 2003)

From the Sunday Times, 12 August

"TO SOME it may seem ill-advised, but Michel Fournier, a retired French army officer, is about to attempt a remarkable feat, jumping from a helium-filled balloon 25 miles above the Earth, falling faster and further than any parachutist before.

He is expecting to drop through the stratosphere at up to 1,000mph, becoming the first free-falling human to break the sound barrier. To get into position to make his jump he will need to break the world record for the highest balloon flight. ......"

Full story here


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

UPDATE! 

An attempt to break the record will be undertaken today by Felix Baumgartner. The event may be viewed here:

http://www.redbullstratos.com/live/

:notworthy:


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Never mind. Mission aborted due to high winds. :disgust:


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## Retronaut (Jun 14, 2010)

It's a nice touch that Kittinger is part of the Red Bull attempt to break his own record.

Much like NASA only lets astronauts at mission control talk to those in space Kittinger is the only person who will talk to Baumgartner during his attempt.


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