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 by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale . three people have traveled higher into the stratosphere . Nicholas Piantanida ( USA ) , claimed to have reached 123,800 feet ( 37,643 m ) with his Strato Jump II balloon on February 2 , 1966 and Felix Baumgartner , reached 128,100 feet ( 39 044.88 meters ) on 14 October 2012 as part of the Red Bull Stratos project . In ballooning , as in mountain climbing , completing the descent by the same method is required to set a record . Piantanida did not claim the balloon altitude record because he jettisoned his balloon at the flight ceiling and returned to Earth in the gondola without the balloon. , and similarly Baumgartner jumped at the apex of his flight . The third person , Alan Eustace , reached an altitude of 136,000 ft where he then performed a supersonic jump in 2014
Red Bull Stratos
Red Bull Stratos
Victor Prather