Project Excelsior

<p>Project Excelsior was a series of parachute jumps made by <a href="/facts/Joseph_Kittinger/bURsqlQU">Joseph Kittinger</a> of the <a href="/facts/United_States_Air_Force/7MxWBYlc">United States Air Force</a> in 1959 and 1960 from helium balloons in the <a href="/facts/Stratosphere/taBra67V">stratosphere</a>. The purpose was to test the Beaupre multi-stage <a href="/facts/Parachute/598qrAdg">parachute</a> system intended to be used by pilots ejecting from high altitude. In one of these jumps Kittinger set <a href="/facts/World_record/mHavepH0">world records</a> for the longest parachute <a href="/facts/Drogue_parachute/tjfpn1Ls">drogue fall</a>, the highest parachute jump, and the fastest speed by a human through the atmosphere. He held the latter two of these records for 52 years, until they were broken by <a href="/facts/Felix_Baumgartner/Tln2GCCj">Felix Baumgartner</a> of the <a href="/facts/Red_Bull_Stratos/yhTr2cPo">Red Bull Stratos</a> project in 2012, though he still holds the world record for longest time in free fall.
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Project Excelsior open-in-new

Project Excelsior