ORLANDO, Fla. — Aviation pioneer and retired Air Force hero Joe Kittinger has died at the age of 94.

Kittinger, who was born in Tampa in 1928 and raised in Orlando, set a record for the longest skydive in 1960 when he jumped from a hot-air balloon at a height greater than 19 miles as a U.S. Air Force captain involved in Project Excelsior. He ended up on the cover of Life magazine.

His participation in Project ManHigh and Project Excelsior tested the ability of a pilot to survive an ejection from high-flying aircraft, key to the United States’ first manned spaceflight efforts. In all, he made five high-altitude jumps.

He also was the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a helium balloon.

“It was an Air Force research project, Excelsior,” Kittinger told News 13 in 2013. “It was information we needed for the space program, which was coming, and I worked for a visionary that gave me the tools and the opportunity to do research that we needed for the space program. When the space program finally started, information we had obtained on my project was used. The information we obtained on escape altitude is still being used today. Every jet you see in the world has a small drogue shoot on it that we developed on my Excelsior program back in 1959, 1960."

Kittinger grew up in Orlando watching planes at the then-Orlando Municipal Airport before serving in the U.S. Air Force for 28 years. During his military career, Kittinger was a fighter pilot, an experimental test pilot an F-4 squadron commander and vice commander of an F-4 fighter wing.

While serving multiple tours in Vietnam, he shot down an enemy plane, and he was shot down himself in May 1972 and held as a prisoner of war until March 1973.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer paid tribute to Kittinger on Friday.

"Joe Kittinger is an American hero. He bravely served our nation in the Air Force for decades and experienced unthinkable hardship as a prisoner of war,” Dyer said. “After retirement, he continued to fly and break barriers and was also so involved with veterans organizations here in Orlando. Joe was one of a kind and will be missed."

Colonel Joe Kittinger Park, at the corner of Crystal Lake Road and South Street near what is now known as Orlando Executive Airport, is named after him. Kittinger helped raise money for the F-4 Phantom on display at the park because he wanted to honor Central Florida veterans who served America, especially those in the Vietnam War.

After his military career, Kittinger moved back to Central Florida and spent 14 years working with then-Church Street Station owner Bob Snow. He flew banners for Rosie O’Grady’s Flying Circus and was known for the skywriting messages he flew daily over Orlando.