August 16th 1960>Project Excelsior>Jump III>102,800 ft
I only heard about Joseph Kittinger very recently and if you haven’t heard of him, allow me shed a little light on this little known legend. 50 years after his historic skydive from the edge of the atmosphere Joseph still holds the world record for the highest fastest and longest skydive.
Project Excelsior began in 1958. The purpose, to design a parachute system to be used for very high altitude jumps. After an ascent of one hour and 31 minutes to an altitude of 102,800 ft (The average cruising altitude of a Jumbo jet is 35,000ft) Joseph took a leap from the highest step in the world and jumped.
He was in free-fall for 4 and a half minutes reaching speeds of 614mph, before opening his main chute. The total duration of the jump was 13 minutes and 45 seconds. Personally I was so awestruck by the archive footage that I decided to write to Mr. Kittinger. Amazingly an envelope arrived a few days ago, he had actually written back.
Superrocketman salutes you Joseph Kittinger, you’re an inspiration.