Half Staff Flag Alert | United States | January 28, 2023

Colonel Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. was a United States Air Force pilot and aviator. He is best known for his high-altitude balloon flights, including his record-breaking stratospheric balloon flight in 1960, where he became the first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean. He also served in the Vietnam War and retired from the military as a Colonel. According to the New Mexico Museum of Space History, In 1961, he wrote of his experiences in his book, The Long, Lonely Leap.