1. Nicholas John Piantanida was an American amateur parachute jumper who reached 123,500 feet with his Strato Jump II balloon on February 2,1966, flying a crewed balloon higher than anyone before, a record that stood until Felix Baumgartner's flight on October 14,2012.
When Nick Piantanida was 10 years old, he experimented with homemade parachutes, harnessing a stray neighborhood cat to one in a test drop off the five-story apartment building where they lived.
In 1963, Nick Piantanida was living in Brick Township, New Jersey, and had a business selling pets when he discovered skydiving.
Nick Piantanida took a job driving trucks in order to give him time to train on weekends.
Nick Piantanida earnestly studied meteorology, balloon technology and survival systems.
Nick Piantanida assembled a team of volunteers for an attempt at the world free-fall record.
On October 22,1965, Piantanida made his first attempt at the record in his balloon named Strato Jump I The attempt ended when a wind shear tore off the top of his balloon, ending the flight at just 16,000 feet and forcing Piantanida to parachute into the Saint Paul, Minnesota city dump.
On February 2,1966, in his second attempt, Nick Piantanida launched in Strato Jump II from Joe Foss Field near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and reached an unprecedented altitude of 123,500 feet.
Nick Piantanida aborted the jump and detached the gondola from the balloon, returning to earth in the gondola without the balloon.
Nick Piantanida's suit had depressurized at about the 57,000-foot mark.
Nick Piantanida barely survived the descent, having suffered massive tissue damage due to ebullism.
Nick Piantanida was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, New Jersey.
Nick Piantanida married Janice McDowell in 1963, and they had three daughters: Donna, Diane, and Debbie.