Nows and Forevers

Col. Joseph Kittinger died a few days ago at age 94. He led an extraordinary life.

As an Air Force officer, in 1960, he jumped from a gondola 19 miles above the Earth’s surface for the highest parachute jump ever recorded. It came after a failed attempt the year before that nearly killed him, at speeds of more than 600 miles an hour, and challenges on the day where he was successful.

That record stood til 2012, when Felix Baumgartner broke it. Kittinger was one of his advisers, and the voice who guided him by radio all the way up and then all the way down. I watched that record attempt 10 years ago, and I was fascinated by not only by Baumgartner’s feat but also by Kittinger’s steady counsel.

I knew of Kittinger since I was a teenager, because in September 1984 he became the first person to fly a hot-air balloon across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe on his own. Kittinger left from Caribou, Maine, and what is now celebrated as the Rosie O’Grady Balloon of Peace Launch Site, not far from where I lived in Caribou.

Yet he showed his courage in other ways. In between the record parachute jump and the record balloon launch, he flew combat missions during three tours of service in the Vietnam War. In his last mission, in 1972, he was shot down and spent almost a year as a POW.

Joe Kittinger, pioneer and patriot. RIP.