First Woman in the Stratosphere

Date: October 23, 1934 • Location: Washington, United States

Jeannette Piccard (pictured) piloted a hot-air balloon flight that reached 57,579 feet (17,550 m), becoming the first woman to fly in the stratosphere.

Jeannette Ridlon Piccard was an American high-altitude balloonist, and in later life an Episcopal priest, one of the Philadelphia Eleven. She held the women's altitude record for nearly three decades, and according to several contemporaneous accounts was regarded as the first woman in space.