Joseph Kittinger was a US Air Force pilot who made history by being the first person to make the highest skydive at 102,800 feet in 1960. Of course, he wasn't just an adrenaline junkie looking for a thrill and a world record.
The story behind his death-defying jump was that NASA wanted to find an emergency escape option for pilots in case they needed to abandon their aircraft at very high altitudes. Furthermore, his record-making jump wasn't the first time he attempted such a feat. It was his third and final jump.
Before that, however, he almost died when on his first jump, at a height of 76,400 feet, his gear malfunctioned and the only way he survived was when his emergency parachute released and saved him from a death fall.
Despite the initial threat to his life, he managed to jump twice more for Project Excelsior, and went down in history as the first person to jump at the highest altitude. It was broken in 2012 by Swiss balloonist Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from an altitude of 128,100 feet.
(Image credit: US Air Force/Volkmar Wentzel/Wikimedia Commons)