Essays --

Early life and military career[edit] Born in Tampa, Florida, Kittinger was educated at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, and the University of Florida. After racing speedboats as a teenager, he entered the U.S. Air Force in March 1949. On completion of aviation cadet training in March 1950, he received a USAF Pilot rating and a commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was subsequently assigned to the 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing based at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany, flying the F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre. In 1954 Kittinger was transferred to Holloman AFB, New Mexico, and the Air Force Missile Development Center (AFMDC). He flew the observation/chase plane that monitored flight surgeon Colonel John Stapp's rocket sled run of 632 mph (1,017 km/h) in 1955. Kittinger was impressed by Stapp's dedication and leadership as a pioneer in aerospace medicine. Stapp, in turn, was impressed with Kittinger's skillful jet piloting, later recommending him for space-related aviation research work. Stapp was to foster the high-altitude balloon tests that would later lead to Kittinger's record-setting leap from over 102,800 feet (31,300 m). In 1957, as part of Project Manhigh, Kittinger set an interim balloon altitude record of 96,760 feet (29,490 m) in Manhigh I, for which he was awarded his first Distinguished Flying Cross. Project Excelsior[edit] Kittinger next to the Excelsior gondola Main article: Project Excelsior Captain Kittinger was next assigned to the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. For Project Excelsior (meaning "ever upward"), a name given to the project by Colonel Stapp as part of research into high altitude bailouts,[2][3] he made a series of three extreme altitude parac... ...4-mph wind blowing on you. I could only hear myself breathing in the helmet."[12] Kittinger set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes), and fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere.[13] These were the USAF records, but were not submitted for aerospace world records to the Fà ©dà ©ration Aà ©ronautique Internationale (FAI).[14] Kittinger's records for the highest ascent, highest parachute jump, and fastest velocity stood for 52 years, until they were broken in 2012 by Felix Baumgartner. For this series of jumps, Kittinger was decorated with a second Distinguished Flying Cross, and he was awarded the Harmon Trophy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[15] The Stargazer gondola on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. Project Stargazer[edit]