Maxie Anderson (September 10, 1934 – June 27, 1983) was an American hot air balloonist and Congressional Gold Medal recipient.

He engaged in prospecting in the Arctic Circle before completing his degree in industrial engineering at the University of North Dakota in 1956.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, he entered the mining industry, acquiring his own company, Ranchers Exploration and Development Corporation, before he was thirty.

The two decided to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's flight, and engaged balloonist Ed Yost (whose transatlantic bid had failed in 1976) to build the Double Eagle.

With Don Ida he launched the balloon Jules Verne from Luxor, Egypt on January 11, 1981, travelling 4,316 kilometres (2,682 mi), and landing in Hansa, India 48 hours later.

[9][10] The locale of the accident is also given as "near the village of Schönderling in the county of Bad Kissingen"[11] in a history of the Gordon Bennett Cup balloon race, in which they were participating as non-competitors at the time.