1966 jump attempt higher than Kittinger's

[USMCmech]

I just stumbled across some aviation history that I had never heard of before. Fascinating story.



In 1966 Nick Piantanida tried to break Joe Kittinger's free fall record of 102,000 ft. His second attempt took him up to 123,000 ft, but he was not able to jump out of the gondola due to a O2 line that would not disconnect. This was the record for the highest altitude in a manned balloon. This record would not be broken until Felix Baumgartner's 2012 jump

He died on the third attempt due to a decompression of his pressure suit for undetermined reasons.

The whole 60 minute documentary is available on Netflix.

 

[jwp_145]

I just stumbled across some aviation history that I had never heard of before. Fascinating story.



In 1966 Nick Piantanida tried to break Joe Kittinger's free fall record of 102,000 ft. His second attempt took him up to 123,000 ft, but he was not able to jump out of the gondola due to a O2 line that would not disconnect. This was the record for the highest altitude in a manned balloon. This record would not be broken until Felix Baumgartner's 2012 jump

He died on the third attempt due to a decompression of his pressure suit for undetermined reasons.

The whole 60 minute documentary is available on Netflix.

I watched that yesterday... CRAZY!!! Never heard of the guy before.

 

[Blackhawk]

I don't think I've ever watched a "30 for 30" that was not entertaining.

 

[Luigi]

Watching it today. It's pretty intense.

 

[The Fez]

I stumbled upon this on Netflix a few days ago. I had never heard of Piantanida either. I'm going to need to do some more digging into some of my favorite records, since I've found the stories of the people who didn't quite make or break the records to be just as, if not more, interesting.