18 Miles Up

In one of a series of Air Force experiments designed to test human reaction to stratospheric flight (as in rocketcraft or manned satellites), Air Force Captain Joe W. Kittinger Jr. this week soared in a balloon over South St. Paul to a new manned balloon altitude record: 18 miles (96,000 ft.), besting the old Navy-made mark, set last November, by almost four miles.

Guided by Colonel John P. Stapp (TIME, Sept. 12, 1955), boss of the Air Force's Aero Medical Laboratories, eager Jet Pilot Kittinger, 28, climbed into an instrument-cramped, air-conditioned gondola, was borne upward by a huge helium-filled plastic balloon as ground crews tracked his progress. Kittinger took only 80 minutes to reach the 18-mile mark, spent two hours at peak height before failure of his voice transmitter promoted safety-conscious Supervisor Stapp to order him to earth.

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