Air Force Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger Jr., after ascending to an altitude of 76,400 feet in Excelsior I, an open-gondola balloon (setting three unofficial altitude records on the way), makes the longest free-fall parachute jump in history (64,000 feet) in two minutes, 58 seconds at White Sands, N.M.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has signaled to industry it wants to develop a low-cost hypersonic cruise missile to deliver a wide range of payloads at a range up to 500 nautical miles.