Project Excelsior was a series of parachute jumps made by

Joseph Kittinger Joseph William Kittinger II (July 27, 1928 – December 9, 2022) served as a United States Air Force (USAF) officer from 1950 to 1978. He was a fighter pilot who earned Command Pilot status and retired as a colonel. He held the world record for ...

of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

in 1959 and 1960 from helium balloons in the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air ...

. The purpose was to test the Beaupre multi-stage

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

system intended to be used by pilots ejecting from high altitude. In one of these jumps Kittinger set

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

s for the longest parachute drogue fall, 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

Felix Baumgartner Felix Baumgartner (; born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver, daredevil and BASE jumper. He is widely known for jumping to Earth from a helium balloon from the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in New Mexico, United States, as par ...

of the

Red Bull Stratos Red Bull Stratos was a high altitude skydiving project involving Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner. On 14 October 2012, Baumgartner flew approximately into the stratosphere over New Mexico, United States, in a Gas balloon, helium balloon befor ...

project in 2012, though he still holds the world record for longest time in free fall.

Background

As jet planes flew higher and faster in the 1950s, the Air Force became increasingly worried about the safety of flight crews who had to eject at high altitude. Tests in

Operation High Dive Operation High Dive (also known as Project High Dive) was a secret project carried out during the 1950s by the United States Air Force. It tested high-altitude parachutes using Crash test dummy, anthropomorphic dummies. The dummies went into a 20 ...

with dummies had shown that a body in

free-fall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on i ...

at high altitude would often go into a flat spin at a rate of up to 200 revolutions per minute (about 3.3 revolutions per second). This would be potentially fatal. Project Excelsior was initiated in 1958 to design a parachute system that would allow a safe, controlled descent after a high-altitude ejection. Francis Beaupre, a technician at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, devised a multi-stage parachute system to facilitate human tests. This consisted of a small diameter stabilizer or "drogue" parachute, designed to prevent uncontrolled spinning at high altitudes, and a diameter main parachute that deployed at a lower altitude. The system included timers and altitude sensors that would automatically deploy both parachutes at the correct points in the descent, even if the parachutist were unconscious or disabled. To test the parachute system, staff at Wright Field built a high

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...

with a capacity of nearly that could lift an open gondola and

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

into the

. Captain Joseph Kittinger, who was test director for the project, made three ascents and test jumps. As the gondola was unpressurized, Kittinger wore a modified David Clark MC-3A partial

pressure suit A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either full-pr ...

during these tests, plus additional layers of clothing to protect him from the extreme cold at high altitude. Together with the parachute system, this almost doubled his weight. He did not enjoy the jumping and was nearly killed.

Test jumps

The first test, Excelsior I, was made on November 16, 1959. Kittinger ascended in the gondola and jumped from an altitude of . In this first test, the stabilizer parachute was deployed too soon, catching Kittinger around the neck and causing him to spin at 120 revolutions per minute. This caused Kittinger to lose consciousness, but his life was saved by his main parachute which opened automatically at a height of . Despite this near-disaster on the first test, Kittinger went ahead with another test only three weeks later. The second test, Excelsior II, was made on December 11, 1959. This time, Kittinger jumped from an altitude of and descended in free-fall for before opening his main parachute. The third and final test, Excelsior III, was made on August 16, 1960. During the ascent, the pressure seal in Kittinger's right glove failed, and he began to experience severe pain in his right hand from the exposure of his hand to the extreme low pressure. (See

Space exposure Venturing into the environment of space can have negative effects on the human body. Significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness include muscle atrophy and deterioration of the skeleton (spaceflight osteopenia). Other significant ef ...

.) He decided not to inform the ground crew about this, in case they should decide to abort the test. Despite temporarily losing the use of his right hand, he continued with the ascent, climbing to an altitude of . The ascent took one hour and 31 minutes and broke the previous crewed balloon altitude record of , which was set by Major David Simons as part of

Project Manhigh Project Manhigh was a pre-Space Age military project that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the stratosphere, funded as an aero-medical research program, though seen by its designers as a stepping stone to space. It was conducted by ...

in 1957. Kittinger stayed at peak altitude for 12 minutes, waiting for the balloon to drift over the landing target area. He then stepped out of the gondola to begin his descent. The small stabilizer parachute deployed successfully and Kittinger fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, setting a long-standing world record for the longest free-fall. During the descent, Kittinger experienced temperatures as low as . In the free-fall stage, he reached a top speed of . At an altitude of , Kittinger opened his main parachute and landed safely in the New Mexico desert. The whole descent took 13 minutes and 45 seconds and set a world record for the highest parachute jump. A plaque attached below the open door of the Excelsior III gondola read, "This is the highest step in the world". Kittinger held the world records for highest parachute jump and highest speed of a human in atmosphere until October 14, 2012 when

jumped from and reaching a speed of 377.12 m/s as part of the

project, with Kittinger serving as a technical advisor to Baumgartner. Kittinger does, however, still hold the records for longest drogue fall and longest freefall. File:Joseph Kittinger and the Excelsior gondola.jpg,

next to the Excelsior gondola. The plaque reads "This Is The Highest Step In The World" File:Project_Excelsior_-_Kittinger%27s_Jump_by_Lookout_Mountain_Air_Force_Station,_1352d_Motion_Picture_Squadron.ogg, thumbtime=30:06, Film of the historic jump File:Joseph Kittinger after jump 1960 US Air Force.jpg, A ground crew assists Joe Kittinger in removing his flight gear after the successful flight of Excelsior III. Despite the appearances, Kittinger was fine. File:Excelsior NMUSAF Display.jpg, Replica of the Excelsior III gondola at the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...

Response

Comparison International Standard Atmosphere space diving

Kittinger's efforts during Project Excelsior proved that it was possible for an air crew to descend safely after ejecting at high altitudes. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

awarded Kittinger the C. B.

Harmon Trophy The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix, and aeronaut (balloon or dirigible). A fourth trophy, the "National Trophy," was awarded from 1926 through 1938 to th ...

for his work on Excelsior. Kittinger also received an oak leaf cluster to the Distinguished Flying Cross, the J.J. Jeffries Award, the A. Leo Stevens Parachute Medal, and the Wingfoot Lighter-Than-Air Society Achievement Award.

Notes

References

Burkhard Bilger, Our Far-Flung Correspondents, "Falling," The New Yorker, August 13, 2007, p. 58
*

External links

* On Stratocat website
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Excelsior pageU.S. Air Force Footage of Excelsior TestsThe Highest Step - videoCol. Joe Kittinger speaks at the Kircher Society Meeting - Video Pt1 - featuring an extended Project Excelsior VideoCol. Joe Kittinger speaks at the Kircher Society Meeting - Video Pt2Col. Joe Kittinger speaks at the Kircher Society Meeting - Video Pt3''Excelsior III - the Long, Lonely Leap'' painting by Stuart Brown
* {{Internet Archive short film, id=gov.archives.li.111-dd-301-59, name=Balloons Ballooning Military projects of the United States Military parachuting Space diving Space research Human subject research in the United States