Essays --

Early life and military careereditBorn in Tampa, Florida, Kittinger was educated at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, and the University of Florida. After hie speedboats as a teenager, he entered the U.S. Air embrace 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 establish 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 rumination/chase plane that monitored flight surgeon Colonel John Stapps rocket sled run of 632 mph (1,017 km/h) in 1955. Kittinger was impressed by Stapps dedication and flowership as a pioneer in aerospace medicine. Stapp, in turn, was impressed with Kittingers skillful jet piloting, later recommending him for space-related aviation resea rch work. Stapp was to foster the high- elevation balloon tests that would later lead to Kittingers record- placedting 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 high-minded Flying Cross.Project ExcelsioreditKittinger next to the Excelsior gondolaMain article Project ExcelsiorCaptain 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,23 he made a series of three extreme altitude parac... ...4-mph wind blowing on you. I could only hear myself breathing in the helmet.12Kittinger set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes), and fastest speed by a human being throug h the atmosphere.13 These were the USAF records, but were non submitted for aerospace world records to the Fdration Aronautique Internationale (FAI).14 Kittingers 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.15The Stargazer gondola on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.Project Stargazeredit