U. S. Ballooning Hall of Fame Induction at the National Balloon Museum, Sunday August 1, 2010 at 2:00 pm.
Joe Kittinger, Tom Sheppard and Anthony Fairbanks will be the inductees this year.
Kittinger is best known for his record setting parachute jump from a balloon on August 16, 1960 from an altitude of 102,800 feet. In that jump he approached the speed of sound at 614 mph and opened his parachute at 18,000 feet. He made five stratospheric balloon flights.He was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in a helium balloon from Maine to Italy in 1984. He won the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race 3 times in a row to retire the trophy and then won it a fourth time.
Sheppard has an extensive record of leadership roles in the Balloon Federation of America including past president and Chairman of BFA Competition Division rules committee. He is considered the father of modern balloon competition in the United States and has been a leader and participant in many international ballooning competition events. He is also the recipient of many ballooning awards.
Fairbanks began flying gas balloons in 1931 and was a charter member of the Balloon Club of America which was formed n 1952. He also became the first Balloon Pilot Examiner in the United States. He was the pilot of the balloon "La Coquette" used in the movie, "Around the World in Eighty Days".