# Flight altitude record

This listing of flight altitude records are the records set for the highest aeronautical flights conducted in the atmosphere and beyond, set since the age of ballooning.
Some, but not all of the records were certified by the non-profit international aviation organization, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). One reason for a lack of 'official' certification was that the flight occurred prior to the creation of the FAI.
For clarity, the "Fixed-wing aircraft" table is sorted by FAI-designated categories as determined by whether the record-creating aircraft left the ground by its own power (category "Altitude"), or whether it was first carried aloft by a carrier-aircraft prior to its record setting event (category "Altitude gain", or formally "Altitude Gain, Aeroplane Launched from a Carrier Aircraft"). Other sub-categories describe the airframe, and more importantly, the powerplant type (since rocket-powered aircraft can have greater altitude abilities than those with air-breathing engines).
An essential requirement for the creation of an "official" altitude record is the employment of FAI-certified observers present during the record-setting flight. Thus several records noted are unofficial due to the lack of such observers.

## Balloons

* 1783-08-15: 24 m (79 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier of France, the first ascent in a hot-air balloon.
* 1783-10-19: 81 m (266 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, in Paris.
* 1783-10-19: 105 m (344 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier with André Giroud de Villette, in Paris.
* 1783-11-21: 1,000 m (3,300 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier with Marquis d'Arlandes, in Paris.
* 1783-12-01: 2.7 km (8,900 ft); Jacques Alexandre Charles and his assistant Marie-Noël Robert, both of France, made the first flight in a hydrogen balloon to about 610 m (2,000 ft). Charles then ascended alone to the record altitude.
* 1784-06-23: 4 km (13,000 ft); Pilâtre de Rozier and the chemist Joseph Proust in a Montgolfier.
* 1803-07-18: 7.28 km (23,900 ft); Étienne-Gaspard Robert and Auguste Lhoëst in a balloon.
* 1839: 7.9 km (26,000 ft); Charles Green and Spencer Rush in a free balloon.
* 1862-09-05: about 29,500 ft (9,000 m); Henry Coxwell and James Glaisher in a balloon filled with coal gas. Glaisher lost consciousness during the ascent due to the low air pressure and cold temperature of −11 °C (12 °F).
* 1901-07-31: 10.8 km (35,000 ft); Arthur Berson and Reinhard Süring in the hydrogen balloon Preußen, in an open basket and with oxygen in steel cylinders. This flight contributed to the discovery of the stratosphere.
* 1927-11-04: 13.222 km (43,380 ft); Captain Hawthorne C. Gray, of the U.S. Army Air Corps, in a helium balloon. Gray lost consciousness after his oxygen supply ran out and was killed in the crash.
* 1931-05-27: 15.781 km (51,770 ft); Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer in a hydrogen balloon.
* 1932: 16.201 km (53,150 ft) -Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns in a hydrogen balloon.
* 1933-09-30: 18.501 km (60,700 ft); USSR balloon USSR-1.
* 1933-11-20: 18.592 km (61,000 ft); Lt. Comdr. Thomas G. W. Settle (USN) and Maj Chester L. Fordney (USMC) in Century of Progress balloon
* 1934-01-30: 21.946 km (72,000 ft); USSR balloon Osoaviakhim-1. The three crew were killed when the balloon broke up during the descent.
* 1935-11-10: 22.066 km (72,400 ft); Captain O. A. Anderson and Captain A. W. Stevens (U.S. Army Air Corps) ascended in the Explorer II gondola from the Stratobowl, near Rapid City, South Dakota, for a flight that lasted 8 hours 13 minutes and covered 362 kilometres (225 mi).
* 1956-11-08: 23.165 km (76,000 ft); Malcolm D. Ross and M. L. Lewis (U.S. Navy) in Office of Naval Research Strato-Lab I, using a pressurized gondola and plastic balloon launching near Rapid City, South Dakota, and landing 282 km (175 mi) away near Kennedy, Nebraska.
* 1957-06-02: 29.4997 km (96,784 ft); Captain Joseph W. Kittinger (U.S. Air Force) ascended in the Project Manhigh 1 gondola to a record-breaking altitude.
* 1957-08-19: 31.212 km (102,400 ft); above sea level, Major David Simons (U.S. Air Force) ascended from the Portsmouth Mine near Crosby, Minnesota, in the Manhigh 2 gondola for a 32-hour record-breaking flight. Simons landed at 5:32 p.m. on August 20 in northeastern South Dakota.
* 1960-08-16: 31.333 km (102,800 ft); Testing a high-altitude parachute system, Joseph Kittinger of the U.S. Air Force parachuted from the Excelsior III balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 ft (31,300 m). He set world records for: high-altitude jump; freefall diving by falling 26 km (16 mi) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed achieved by a human without motorized assistance, 988 km/h (614 mph).
* 1961-05-04: 34.668 km (113,740 ft); Commander Malcolm D. Ross and Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather, Jr., of the U.S. Navy ascended in the Strato-Lab V, in an unpressurized gondola. After descending, the gondola containing the two balloonists landed in the Gulf of Mexico. Prather slipped off the rescue helicopter's hook into the gulf and drowned.
* 1966-02-02: 37.6 km (123,000 ft); Amateur parachutist Nicholas Piantanida of the United States with his "Project Strato-Jump" II balloon. Because he was unable to disconnect his oxygen line from the gondola's main feed, the ground crew had to remotely detach the balloon from the gondola. His planned free fall and parachute jump was abandoned, and he returned to the ground in the gondola. Nick was unable to accomplish his desired free fall record, however his spectacular flight set other records that held up for 46 years. Because of the design of his glove, he was unable to reattach his safety seat belt harness. He endured very high g-forces, but survived the descent. Piantanida's ascent is not recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as a balloon altitude world record, because he did not return with his balloon, although that was not the feat he was trying to accomplish. On this second attempt of "Project Strato-Jump", Nick Piantanida took with him 250 postmarked air-mail envelopes and letters. At the time, these letters were the first covers to have ever been delivered by the U.S. Post Office via space. The habit of taking cover letters to space continued with the Apollo Program; in 1972 there was a scandal involving the Apollo 15 astronauts. It is unclear if any of the "Project Strato-Jump" covers survived, and were eventually mailed to the intended recipients.
* 2012-10-14: 38.969 km (127,850 ft); Felix Baumgartner in the Red Bull Stratos balloon. The flight started near Roswell, New Mexico, and returned to earth via a record-setting parachute jump.
* 2014-10-24: 41.424 kilometres (135,910 ft); Alan Eustace, a senior vice president at the Google corporation, in a helium balloon, returning to earth via parachute jump during the StratEx mission executed by Paragon Space Development Corporation.

### Hot-air balloons

| Year | Date | Altitude | Altitude | Person | Aircraft | Notes |
| Year | Date | imperial | metric | Person | Aircraft | Notes |
| 1783 | October 15 | 84 ft | 26 m | Pilâtre de Rozier | Montgolfier | tethered balloon |
| 1988 | June 6 | 64,996 ft | 19,811 m | Per Lindstrand | Colt 600 | In Laredo, Texas. |
| 2004 | December 13 | 21,699 ft | 6,614 m | David Hempleman-Adams | Boland Rover A-2 | Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record for hot air balloon as of 2007 |
| 2005 | November 26 | 68,986 ft | 21,027 m | Vijaypat Singhania | Cameron Z-1600 | Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for hot-air-balloon flight, reaching 21,027 m (68,986 ft). He launched from downtown Mumbai, India, and landed 240 km (150 mi) south in Panchale. |

### Uncrewed gas balloon

During 1893 French scientist Jules Richard constructed sounding balloons. These uncrewed balloons, carrying light, but very precise instruments, approached an altitude of 15.24 km (50,000 ft).
A Winzen balloon launched from Chico, California, in 1972 set the uncrewed altitude record of 51.8 km (170,000 ft). Its volume was 1,350,000 m$^3$ (47,800,000 cu ft).
On September 20, 2013, JAXA launched an ultrathin film balloon called BS13-08 made of 2.8 μm thick polyethylene film with a volume of 80,000 m$^3$ (2,800,000 cu ft), which was 60 m (200 ft) in diameter. The balloon rose at a speed of 250 metres per minute (820 ft/min) and reached an altitude of 53.7 km (176,000 ft), surpassing the previous world record set in 2002
This was the greatest height a flying object reached without using rockets or a launch with a cannon.

## Gliders

On February 17, 1986, the highest altitude obtained by a soaring aircraft was set at 14.938 km (49,009 ft) by Robert Harris using lee waves over California City, United States. The flight was accomplished using the Grob 102 Standard Astir III.
This was surpassed at 15.46 km (50,720 ft) set on August 30, 2006, by Steve Fossett (pilot) and Einar Enevoldson (co-pilot) in their high performance research glider Perlan 1, a modified Glaser-Dirks DG-500. This record was achieved over El Calafate (Patagonia, Argentina) and set as part of the Perlan Project.
This was raised at 15.902 km (52,172 ft) on September 3, 2017 by Jim Payne (pilot) and Morgan Sandercock (co-pilot) in the Perlan 2, a special built high altitude research glider. This record was again achieved over El Calafate and as part of the Perlan Project.
On September 2, 2018, within the Airbus Perlan Mission II, again from El Calafate, the Perlan II piloted by Jim Payne and Tim Gardner reached 23.203 km (76,124 ft), surpassing the 22.475 km (73,737 ft) attained by Jerry Hoyt on April 17, 1989, in a Lockheed U-2: the highest subsonic flight.

## Fixed-wing aircraft

| Year | Date | Altitude | Altitude | Person | Aircraft | Propulsion | Notes |
| Year | Date | Imperial | Metric | Person | Aircraft | Propulsion | Notes |
| 1890 | October 8 | 8 in | 0.2 m | Clément Ader | Éole | propeller | Uncontrolled hop |
| 1903 | December 17 | 10 ft | 3 m | Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright | Wright Flyer | propeller | Photographed and witnessed unofficially. |
| 1906 | October 23 | 10 ft | 3 m | Alberto Santos-Dumont | 14-bis | propeller | First officially witnessed and certified flight. |
| 1906 | November 12 | 13 ft | 4 m | Alberto Santos-Dumont | 14-bis | propeller |
| 1908 | December 18 | 360 ft | 110 m | Wilbur Wright | Biplane | propeller | at Auvers |
| 1909 | July 18 | 492 ft | 150 m | Louis Paulhan | Farman | propeller | Concours d’Aviation, La Brayelle, Douai |
| 1909 | | 3,018 ft | 920 m | Louis Paulhan | Farman | propeller | Lyon |
| 1910 | January 9 | 4,164 ft | 1,269 m | Louis Paulhan | Farman | propeller | Los Angeles Air Meet |
| 1910 | June 17 | 4,603 ft | 1,403 m | Walter Brookins | Wright biplane | propeller | |
| 1910 | August 11 | 6,621 ft | 2,018 m | John Armstrong Drexel | Blériot monoplane | propeller | Lanark Aviation Meeting |
| 1910 | October 30 | 8,471 ft | 2,582 m | Ralph Johnstone | Wright biplane | propeller | International Aviation Tournament was at the Belmont Park race track in Elmont, New York |
| 1910 | December 26 | 11,474 ft | 3,497 m | Archibald Hoxsey | Wright Model B | propeller | Second International Aviation Meet held in 1910 at Dominguez Field, Los Angeles. Hoxsey died in a plane crash five days later while trying to set a new record. |
| 1912 | September 11 | 18,410 ft | 5,610 m | Roland Garros | Blériot monoplane | propeller | Saint-Brieuc (France) |
| 1915 | January 5 | 11,950 ft | 3,640 m | Joseph Eugene Carberry | Curtiss Model E | propeller | |
| 1916 | November 9 | 26,083 ft | 7,950 m | Guido Guidi | Caudron G.4 | propeller | Torino Mirafiori airfield |
| 1919 | June 14 | 31,230 ft | 9,520 m | Jean Casale | Nieuport NiD.29 | propeller | |
| 1920 | February 27 | 33,113 ft | 10,093 m | Major Rudolf Schroeder | LUSAC-11 | propeller | |
| 1921 | September 18 | 34,508 ft | 10,518 m | Lt. John Arthur Macready | LUSAC-11 | propeller | |
| 1923 | September 5 | 35,240 ft | 10,740 m | Joseph Sadi-Lecointe | Nieuport NiD.40R | propeller | |
| 1923 | October 30 | 36,565 ft | 11,145 m | Joseph Sadi-Lecointe | Nieuport NiD.40R | propeller | |
| 1924 | October 21 | 39,587 ft | 12,066 m | Jean Callizo | Gourdou-Leseurre 40 C.1 | propeller | Callizo later claimed several higher records, but these were stripped from him, as he had falsified barograph readings. |
| 1930 | June 4 | 43,168 ft | 13,158 m | Lt. Apollo Soucek, USN | Wright Apache | propeller | |
| 1932 | September 16 | 43,976 ft | 13,404 m | Cyril Uwins | Vickers Vespa | propeller | |
| 1933 | September 28 | 44,819 ft | 13,661 m | Gustave Lemoine | Potez 506 | propeller | |
| 1934 | April 11 | 47,354 ft | 14,433 m | Renato Donati | Caproni Ca.113 AQ | propeller | |
| 1936 | August 14 | 48,698 ft | 14,843 m | Georges Détré | Potez 506 | propeller | highest with no pressure suit |
| 1936 | September 28 | 49,967 ft | 15,230 m | Squadron Leader Francis Ronald Swain | Bristol Type 138 | propeller | |
| 1938 | June 30 | 53,937 ft | 16,440 m | M. J. Adam | Bristol Type 138 | propeller | |
| 1938 | October 22 | 56,850 ft | 17,330 m | Lt. Colonel Mario Pezzi | Caproni Ca.161 | propeller | crewed propeller-driven biplane record so far |
| 1948 | March 23 | 59,430 ft | 18,114 m | John Cunningham | de Havilland Vampire | turbojet | Modified Vampire F.1 with extended wingtips and a de Havilland Ghost jet engine. |
| 1949 | August 8 | 71,902 ft | 21,916 m | Brigadier General Frank Kendall Everest Jr. | Bell X-1 | air-launched rocket plane | Unofficial record. |
| 1951 | August 15 | 79,494 ft | 24,230 m | Bill Bridgeman | Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket | air-launched rocket plane | Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR11 liquid fuel rocket engine (designated as XLR8-RM-5). |
| 1953 | May 4 | 63,668 ft | 19,406 m | Walter Gibb | English Electric Canberra B.2 | turbojet | propelled by two Rolls-Royce Olympus engines. |
| 1953 | August 21 | 83,235 ft | 25,370 m | Lt. Col. Marion Carl | Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket | air-launched rocket plane | Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR11 liquid fuel rocket engine (designated as XLR8-RM-5). |
| 1954 | May 28 | 90,440 ft | 27,570 m | Arthur W. Murray | Bell X-1A | air-launched rocket plane | Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR11 liquid fuel rocket engine. |
| 1955 | August 29 | 65,876 ft | 20,079 m | Walter Gibb | English Electric Canberra B.2 | turbojet | Olympus powered. |
| 1956 | September 7 | 126,283 ft | 38,491 m | Iven Kincheloe | Bell X-2 | air-launched rocket plane | |
| 1957 | August 28 | 70,310 ft | 21,430 m | Mike Randrup | English Electric Canberra WK163 | turbojet & rocket | With Napier "Double Scorpion" rocket motor |
| 1958 | April 18 | 76,939 ft | 23,451 m | Lt. Commander George C. Watkins, USN | Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger | turbojet | |
| 1958 | May 2 | 79,452 ft | 24,217 m | Roger Carpentier | SNCASO Trident II | turbojet & rocket | |
| 1958 | May 7 | 91,243 ft | 27,811 m | Major Howard C. Johnson | Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | turbojet | This F-104 became the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed, rate of climb and altitude records when on May 16, 1958, U.S. Air Force Capt. Walter W. Irwin set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph |
| 1959 | September 4 | 94,658 ft | 28,852 m | Vladimir Ilyushin | Sukhoi Su-9 | turbojet | |
| 1959 | December 6 | 98,557 ft | 30,040 m | Commander Lawrence E. Flint, Jr. | McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II | turbojet | |
| 1959 | December 14 | 103,389 ft | 31,513 m | Capt "Joe" B. Jordan | Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | turbojet | General Electric J79 |
| 1961 | March 30 | 169,600 ft | 51,700 m | Joseph Albert Walker | X-15 | air-launched rocket plane | First human to reach the mesosphere. Last world altitude record before Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight Vostok 1. |
| 1961 | April 28 | 113,891 ft | 34,714 m | Georgy Mosolov | Ye-66A Mig-21 | turbojet & rocket | R-11 |
| 1962 | July 17 | 314,700 ft | 95,900 m | Robert Michael White | X-15 | air-launched rocket plane | Not a C-1 FAI record |
| 1963 | July 19 | 347,400 ft | 105,900 m | Joseph Albert Walker | X-15 | air-launched rocket plane | Not a C-1 FAI record. |
| 1963 | August 22 | 353,200 ft | 107,700 m | Joseph Albert Walker | X-15 | air-launched rocket plane | Not a C-1 FAI record |
| 1963 | October 22 | 118,860 ft | 36,230 m | Major Robert W. Smith | Lockheed NF-104A | turbojet & rocket | Unofficial altitude record for an aircraft with self-powered takeoff. |
| 1963 | December 6 | 120,800 ft | 36,800 m | Major Robert W. Smith | Lockheed NF-104A | turbojet & rocket | Unofficial altitude record for an aircraft with self-powered takeoff. |
| 1973 | July 25 | 118,898 ft | 36,240 m | Aleksandr Fedotov | Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-266 MiG-25 | turbojet | Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type |
| 1976 | July 28 | 85,069 ft | 25,929 m | Captain Robert Helt | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird | turbojet | Absolute record for altitude in horizontal flight. Pratt & Whitney J58; Absolute Record of FAI classes C, H and M Another SR-71 set absolute speed record on the same day. |
| 1977 | August 31 | 123,520 ft | 37,650 m | Aleksandr Fedotov | Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-266M MiG-25 | turbojet | Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type |
| 1995 | August 4 | 60,897 ft | 18,561 m | 2 pilots: Einar Enevoldson and other, and two scientists | Grob Strato 2C | propeller | crewed propeller monoplane record to date |
| 2001 | August 14 | 96,863 ft | 29,524 m | Uncrewed | NASA Helios HP01 | propeller | Set altitude records for propeller driven aircraft, solar-electric aircraft, and highest altitude in horizontal flight by a winged aircraft. |
| 2004 | October 4 | 367,490 ft | 112,010 m | Brian Binnie | SpaceShipOne | air-launched rocket plane | In addition to the altitude record, this flight also set records for greatest mass lifted to altitude and minimum time between two consecutive flights in a reusable vehicle. |

### Piston-driven propeller aeroplane

The highest altitude obtained by a piston-driven propeller UAV (without payload) is 20.430 kilometres (67,028 ft). It was obtained during 1988–1989 by the Boeing Condor UAV.
The highest altitude obtained in a piston-driven propeller biplane (without a payload) was 17.083 km (56,050 ft) on October 22, 1938, by Mario Pezzi at Montecelio, Italy in a Caproni Ca.161 driven by a Piaggio XI R.C. engine.
The highest altitude obtained in a piston-driven propeller monoplane (without a payload) was 18.552 km (60,870 ft) on August 4, 1995, by the Grob Strato 2C driven by two Teledyne Continental TSIO-550 engines.

### Jet aircraft

The highest current world absolute general aviation altitude record for air breathing jet-propelled aircraft is 37.650 kilometres (123,520 ft) set by Aleksandr Vasilyevich Fedotov in a Mikoyan-Gurevich E-266M (MiG-25M) on August 31, 1977.

### Rocket plane

The record for highest altitude obtained by a crewed rocket-powered aircraft is the US Space Shuttle (STS) which regularly reached altitudes of more than 500 kilometres (310 mi) on servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope.
The highest altitude obtained by a crewed aeroplane (launched from another aircraft) is 112.010 km (367,490 ft) by Brian Binnie in the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne (powered by a Scaled Composite SD-010 engine with 80,000 newtons (18,000 lbf) of thrust) on October 4, 2004, at Mojave, California. The SpaceShipOne was launched at over 13.3 km (44,000 ft).
The previous (unofficial) record was 107.960 km (354,200 ft) set by Joseph A. Walker in a North American X-15 in mission X-15 Flight 91 on August 22, 1963. Walker had reached 106 km – crossing the Kármán line the first time – with X-15 Flight 90 the previous month.
During the X-15 program, 8 pilots flew a combined 13 flights which met the Air Force spaceflight criterion by exceeding the altitude of 80 kilometres (50 mi), qualifying these pilots as being astronauts; of those 13 flights, two (flown by the same civilian pilot) met the FAI definition of outer space: 100 kilometres (62 mi).

#### Mixed power

The official record for a mixed power aircraft was achieved on May 2, 1958, by Roger Carpentier when he reached 24.217 km (79,450 ft) over Istres, France in a Sud-Ouest Trident II mixed power (turbojet & rocket engine) aircraft.
The unofficial altitude record for mixed-power-aircraft with self-powered takeoff was 36.8 km (120,800 ft) on December 6, 1963, by Major Robert W. Smith in a Lockheed NF-104A mixed power (turbojet and rocket engine) aircraft.

### Electrically powered aircraft

The highest altitude obtained by an electrically powered aircraft is 29.524 kilometres (96,863 ft) on August 14, 2001, by the NASA Helios, and is the highest altitude in horizontal flight by a winged aircraft. This is also the altitude record for propeller driven aircraft, FAI class U (Experimental / New Technologies), and FAI class U-1.d (Remotely controlled UAV, weight 500 to 2,500 kg (1,100 to 5,500 lb)).

## Rotorcraft

On June 21, 1972, Jean Boulet of France piloted an Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama helicopter to an absolute altitude record of 12.440 kilometres (40,814 ft). At that extreme altitude, the engine flamed out and Boulet had to land the helicopter by breaking another record: the longest successful autorotation in history. The helicopter was stripped of all unnecessary equipment prior to the flight to minimize weight, and the pilot breathed supplemental oxygen.

## Paper airplanes

The highest altitude obtained by a paper plane was previously held by the Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) project, which was released at an altitude of 27.307 kilometres (89,590 ft), from a helium balloon that was launched approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Madrid, Spain on October 28, 2010, and recorded by The Register's "special projects bureau". The project achieved a Guinness world record recognition.
This record was broken on 24 June 2015 in Cambridgeshire, UK by the Space Club of Kesgrave High School, Suffolk, as part of their Stratos III project. The paper plane was launched from a balloon at 35.043 kilometres (114,970 ft).

## Cannon rounds

The current world-record for highest cannon projectile flight is held by Project HARP’s 410 mm (16 in) space gun prototype, which fired a 180 kg (400 lb) Martlet 2 projectile to a record height of 180 kilometres (590,000 ft; 110 mi) in Yuma, Arizona, on November 18, 1966. The projectile’s trajectory sent it beyond the Kármán line at 100 km (62 mi), making it the first cannon-fired projectile to do so.
The Paris Gun (German: Paris-Geschütz) was a German long-range siege gun used to bombard Paris during World War I. It was in service from March–August 1918. Its 106-kilogram (234 lb) shells had a range of about 130 km (80 mi) with a maximum altitude of about 42.3 km (26.3 mi).