Balloon launch from Birigui, Circa 1988 (Image: INPE)

The small city of Birigui is located in the northwest of the Sao Paulo state. During the decade of the 80's the local aerodrome (managed by the Santos Dumont aeroclub) was used by the Setor de Lancamento de Baloes (Balloon Launch Sector) from the Brazil's space agency INPE.

The airfield have a little air strip not paved, with a length of near 800 meters and with enough space around for the launch vehicle and inflation trailers. During the campaigns rented space in the local aeroclub hangar served for integration of the payloads as well to mount the telemetry and tracking setup.

The site was used mainly between May and September and the balloons flown in a west to east trajectory. Althought in several INPE publications Birigui is cited as an alternate site along with Pocos de Caldas and the permanent base at Cachoeira Paulista, as a matter of fact in StratoCat's database there are only references about three launches performed there, the last one in 1993.

Table of balloons launched from Birigui

DateHourFlight DurationExperimentPayload landing place or cause of the failure
6/18/198810:158 hSUPERNOVA 1987 A OBSERVATION - IIn Sao Domingos da Prata - Minas Gerais
9/??/1988 ---PAYLOAD UNKNOWN--- No Data ---
6/8/199321:27~ 8 hTIMAX (Telescopio Imageador de Raios X)--- No Data ---

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