* Astronomy

Joseph William Kittinger II (born July 27, 1928) is a former Command Pilot and career military officer in the United States Air Force. He is most famous for his participation in Project Manhigh and Project Excelsior, holding the records for having the highest, fastest and longest skydive and as being the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon.
For Project Excelsior (meaning "ever upward"), a name given to the project by Col. Stapp as part of research into high altitude bailouts, he made a series of three extreme altitude parachute jumps from an open gondola carried aloft by large helium balloons.
On August 16, 1960, he made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 31,300 m. Towing a small drogue parachute for initial stabilisation, he fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 988 km/h before opening his parachute at 5,500 m.
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