Joseph Kittinger, who set longtime parachute record, dies
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force pilot who held the record for the highest parachute jump for more than 50 years has died. Retired Col. Joseph Kittinger died Friday in Florida at age 94.
Kittinger gained worldwide fame in 1960 when he jumped from a balloon-lifted gondola that took him nearly 20 miles above the New Mexico desert. Dressed in a pressure suit, he hit speeds of over 600 miles per hour before the thickening air and then his parachute slowed him down. Kittinger also served as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War.
He was shot down in 1972 and spent 11 months in a Hanoi prisoner of war camp.
