Editing Project Excelsior (section)

==Background==
As jet planes flew higher and faster in the 1950s, the Air Force became increasingly worried about the safety of flight crews who had to eject at high altitude. Tests in [[Operation High Dive]] with dummies had shown that a body in [[free-fall]] at high altitude would often go into a [[Flat spin (aviation)|flat spin]] at a rate of up to 200 revolutions per minute (about 3.3 revolutions per second). This would be potentially fatal.

Project Excelsior was initiated in 1958 to design a parachute system that would allow a safe, controlled descent after a high-altitude ejection. Francis Beaupre, a technician at [[Wright-Patterson AFB]], Ohio, devised a multi-stage parachute system to facilitate human tests. This consisted of a small {{Convert|6|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} diameter stabilizer or "drogue" parachute, designed to prevent uncontrolled spinning at high altitudes, and a {{Convert|28|ft|m|1 |abbr=on}} diameter main parachute that deployed at a lower altitude. The system included timers and [[altimeter|altitude sensors]] that would automatically deploy both parachutes at the correct points in the descent, even if the parachutist were unconscious or disabled.

To test the parachute system, staff at Wright Field built a {{Convert|200|ft|m|0|abbr=on}} high [[helium]] [[balloon (aircraft)|balloon]] with a capacity of nearly {{convert|3000000|ft3}} that could lift an open gondola and [[test pilot]] into the [[stratosphere]]. Captain Joseph Kittinger, who was test director for the project, made three ascents and test jumps. As the gondola was unpressurized, Kittinger wore a modified David Clark MC-3A partial [[pressure suit]] during these tests,<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/683215main_DressingAltitude-ebook.pdf|title = Dressing for Altitude {{!}} NASA |date = 2012|accessdate = 2016-03-07|publisher = NASA|last = |first = }}</ref> plus additional layers of clothing to protect him from the extreme cold at high altitude. Together with the parachute system, this almost doubled his weight.