Dec 11 1959

From The Space Library

Capt. J. Kittinger (USAF) flew EXCELSIOR II balloon from Holloman AFB to an altitude of 74,700 feet and bailed out, establishing stable free fall for 55,000 feet.

New world speed record for 100-km closed course set by Brig. Gen. J. H. Moore (USAF) in F-105B, at 1,216.48 mph,

NASA discontinued multistage Vega vehicle program to reduce number of rocket vehicles and to exploit reliability factor in future satellite and space projects.