Ten years ago last month, we covered a dramatic event performed by a daredevil named Felix Baumgartner. (My God… have I really been writing here that long?) He’s a skydiver who attempted to leap “from the edge of space” at 120,000 feet and break a series of parachuting records that had stood unchallenged since 1960. He succeeded in breaking most, though not all of the records and made it back alive. But today we’re not here to talk about Baumgartner, but rather the man whose records he challenged. That would be Colonel Joseph W. Kittinger jr. You may not be too familiar with that name, which is a shame because he was a personal hero of mine. But if you’ve ever been in the skydiving community as I was when I was younger, you would recall that everyone knew the name of “Captain Joe,” as he was often called, because he was an absolute legend. Sadly, he passed away yesterday at the age of 94. (Associated Press)

Retired Air Force Col. Joseph Kittinger, whose 1960 parachute jump from almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the Earth stood as a world record for more than 50 years, died Friday in Florida. He was 94.

His death was announced by former U.S. Rep. John Mica and other friends. The cause was lung cancer.

Kittinger, then an Air Force captain and pilot, gained worldwide fame when he completed three jumps over 10 months from a gondola that was hoisted into the stratosphere by large helium balloons.

From the time he was old enough to enlist in the military, Joe Kittinger was a fearless warrior. He went into the Air Force and worked his way into the test pilot program, volunteering to fly any crazy thing that the aeronautical engineers could dream up. He was part of the early generation of test pilots who were known for having “the right stuff.” And though he never got the chance to go into space (well… not in a rocket, anyway), he did pretty much anything else you could imagine.

In the 1950s, the military was in the process of developing the stratospheric jets that would eventually be used as spy planes capable of flying higher than anyone had ever gone. The problem was that when planes suffered severe failures, pilots usually ejected and rode a parachute back to earth. But nobody had any idea if a human being could attempt a parachute jump from those heights, so they needed a volunteer to try it. Of course, Captain Joe stepped forward and basically said, sure. I’ll give it a go.

He didn’t just give it one go. He jumped three times from increasing altitudes, with the last one reaching 102,800 feet. While Baumgartner went up in the equivalent of a space capsule with a full, modern astronaut’s spacesuit, Kittinger rode in an open-air gondola with an improvised, insulated space suit and an oxygen tank. His right glove failed during the ascent and his hand basically froze and swelled up to the point where he could only use his left hand for the rest of the mission. He became the first human being in history to see the full curvature of the earth. And then he stepped out of the gondola and into history.

On the way down, Captain Joe almost broke the speed of sound with only his own body. He nearly passed out during the fall but managed to deploy a drogue chute to stabilize himself for the rest of the freefall. Reaching the appropriate altitude, he was able to deploy his main chute and landed safely. Laying on the ground up against the wheel of a jeep, Kittinger asked one of the members of the ground crew for a Marlboro. It was another day at the office for Captain Joe.

He went on to fly fighter jets during the Vietnam War, shooting down enemy fighters and eventually being shot down himself. He spent eleven months in a North Vietnamese prison camp before being returned home, eventually achieving the rank of Colonel. The list of medals and other honors he was awarded is too long to include here. The years went by, but Kittinger kept on pushing the envelope. In 1984 he became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo in a hot air balloon and he set other records in ballooning. Well into his eighties he was still flying supply and aid flights to South America. Eventually, one Air Force squadron was renamed in his honor, as was an airport.

Now he’s gone. But what a life and what a legacy. He was one of the last true supermen. Godspeed and God bless, Captain Joe. And thanks for all of the memories. Here’s a video where you can hear from the man himself and watch the available footage of his incredible jump.