Highlighting a Parachute Museum Exhibit

Video of Famous jump from the edge of space - August 16, 1960:

Colonel Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. (1928-2022)

One of the Parachute Museum's most popular exhibits is an interactive display of Joe Kittinger's 102,800-foot jump from a balloon gondola that set a world record in 1960. Col. Kittinger, a decorated Air Force veteran and aerospace pioneer, was testing a parachute system designed to assist pilots to eject at high altitudes. But his mission also proved that humans could survive and function in near-space conditions and helped advance preparation for human spaceflight. At that time this set the record for the highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump (102,800 feet), longest drogue fall and fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere (614 mph).

Joe Kittinger (in the light blue shirt, with arms folded) is pictured at the Parachute Museum looking at the display featuring his 1960 jump. (Photo from 2003).

The accompanying photo show museum visitors (including Col. Kittinger himself) watching a video in the museum display. The video is shown below:

Col. Kittinger was a 1997 enshrinee in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.  Another video of his historic jump can be seen on the Parachute Museum Theater page, video number 3, at: https://www.aviationtrailinc.org/parachute-museum-theater  (The Felix Baumgartner* jump that eventually broke his record is also featured on that page in video number 6. Joe Kittinger was in mission control for that 2012 jump and can be seen communicating with Baumgartner in this dramatic video).

*The referenced jump by Felix Baumgartner was accomplished in 2012, with a jump from 128,100 feet, breaking Kittinger’s record, and becoming the first skydiver to exceed the speed of sound while in freefall (833.9 mph). The altitude record was again broken in 2014 by Alan Eustace with a jump from 25 mile above the earth.

Some additional links to learn more about Col. Kittinger:

https://www.aviationtrailinc.org/post/the-national-aviation-hall-of-fame-reflects-on-the-life-of-joe-kittinger

https://airandspace.si.edu/air-and-space-quarterly/summer-2023/space-jumper

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/altamonte-springs-fl/joseph-kittinger-11070429

To experience more exhibits highlighting parachuting history visit the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum located in the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park Visitor Center at 16 S. Williams St., Dayton, Ohio 45402. Museum information can be viewed on the Parachute Museum page on this website.

The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum

16 South Williams Street

Dayton, OH 45402

(937) 225-7705

https://www.aviationtrailinc.org/parachute-museum

The Aviation Trail Parachute Museum is Site #1b on the Aviation Trail

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