Joe Kittinger

Joseph William Kittinger II (July 27, 1928 – December 9, 2022) was a Colonel in the United States Air Force and a USAF Command Pilot. He was born in Tampa, Florida. He set a world record for the longest skydive from a height more than 31 kilometres (19 mi).^[1] He was also the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean, alone, in a hot air balloon.

Kittinger in 1999

He was a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War and was a prisoner of war in a North Vietnamese prison.

Kittinger died at the age of 94 on December 9, 2022, from lung cancer.^[2][3]