Victor Prather Lieutenant Commander Victor A . Prather Jr . ( June 4 , 1923 – May 4 , 1961 ) was an American flight surgeon famous for taking part in " Project RAM " , a government project to develop the space suit . On May 4 , 1961 , Prather drowned during the helicopter transfer after the landing of the Strato - Lab V balloon flight , which set an altitude record for manned balloon flight which stood until 2012 . Life . Prather was born on June 4 , 1923 , in Lapeer , Michigan , to Victor Prather Sr . and Gladys May Furse . He attended Tufts College in 1941 , and became part of the V - 12 program there from 1943 to 1945 . He graduated from Tufts in 1945 and then attended Tufts University School of Medicine , graduating there in 1952 . In 1954 , Prather rejoined the United States Navy . He worked as a surgeon aboard the aircraft carrier USS " Shangri - La " near Morocco until 1957 , when he returned to the United States . He then completed courses in aviation medicine and served in Pensacola , Florida from 1957 to 1958 , and then in Honolulu , Hawaii from 1959 to 1960 . Project RAM . In 1960 , Prather was transferred to Project RAM , a government program to test prototype space suits , at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda , Maryland . He was commissioned to test how the suits worked underwater , and later commissioned to see how the suits would function at extremely high altitudes . The flight . On May 4 , 1961 , at 7 : 08 am , Victor Prather , along with Cdr . Malcolm Ross , ascended in Strato - Lab High V from the flight deck of the USS Antietam ( CV - 36 ) to an altitude of 113 , 720 feet ( 34 , 668 meters ) to test the Navy ' s Mark IV full - pressure suit . The balloon , built by Winzen Research Inc . of Minneapolis , Minnesota , was constructed of polyethylene plastic only thick . The balloon envelope was the largest that had ever been successfully launched , expanding to in diameter when fully inflated . Beneath the balloon hung a large parachute and then the gondola . To control temperature , the gondola was protected by special venetian blinds , but otherwise open to space . Balloon , parachute , gondola , and a trailing antenna made a craft close to tall . The primary objective of the flight was to test the Mark IV full - pressure suit . The suit was manufactured by B . F . Goodrich of neoprene and weighed only . The Mark IV suit overcame problems of weight , bulk , ventilation , air and water tightness , mobility , temperature control , and survival capabilities so well that NASA selected a modified version for use by the Project Mercury astronauts . Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather were exposed to temperatures as low as when they passed at 8 : 10 am . Strato - Lab V reached maximum elevation of at 9 : 47 am , where the temperature was and the air pressure was . At that altitude without a space suit , a person would lose consciousness in seconds . The May 4 flight was the most severe test of the Mark IV suit that was ever conducted . The flight lasted 9 hours 54 minutes and covered a horizontal distance of . As they descended , the balloonists opened their face masks when they reached an elevation where they could breathe . Strato - Lab V landed at 4 : 02 pm in the Gulf of Mexico . A hovering helicopter lowered a rescue hook ( or harness ) , and although Ross slipped partially out of it , he was able to recover without falling completely into the water . A few minutes later the helicopter returned to retrieve Prather . Prather climbed onto the rescue hook but was unable to secure himself . When the helicopter jerked upwards , he slipped off into the ocean . His flight suit then flooded , and he drowned before Navy divers could rescue him . Prather ' s body was never recovered . After the flight . Shortly after Prather ' s death , President John F . Kennedy phoned Prather ' s widow , Virginia Merritt , and she arrived at the White House with her children , Marla Lee Prather and Victor A . Prather III . Kennedy posthumously awarded Victor Prather the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross for ' heroism and extraordinary achievement ' . The balloonists were also awarded the 1961 Harmon Trophy for Aeronauts . The altitude record for a manned balloon flight set by Prather and Ross in 1961 is still officially recognized as unbeaten by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale . The only other people in history to travel further into the stratosphere were Nicholas Piantanida ( USA ) , who is claimed to have reached 123 , 800 feet ( 37 , 643 m ) with his Strato Jump II balloon on February 2 , 1966 , and Felix Baumgartner , who has reached 128 , 100 feet ( 39 044 . 88 meters ) on 14 October 2012 as part of the Red Bull Stratos project .