Joseph Kittinger
Overview
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. He is most famous for his participation in Project Manhigh
Project Manhigh
Project Manhigh along with Project Excelsior was a pre-Space Age military project that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the Earth’s stratosphere.-History:...
and Project Excelsior
Project Excelsior
Project Excelsior was a series of high-altitude parachute jumps made by Colonel Joseph Kittinger of the United States Air Force in 1959 and 1960 to test the Beaupre multi-stage parachute system...
, holding the records for having the highest, fastest and longest skydive, from a height greater than 31 km, and as being the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon. Serving as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, he was shot down and spent 11 months in a North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
ese prison.
Born in Tampa, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
(U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), Kittinger was educated at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, and the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
.
