Purpose of the flight and payload description
Second attempt of Nick Piantanida to break the record of hich parachute jump of Joe Kittinger in 1960. In that flight he sets a new height record of 123.500 ft but it remained unnoficial. When Piantanida was ready to jump, he was not able to disconnect the main oxygen supply from the capsule due to the frozen of a valve. The flight was aborted. In the first phase of free-fall of the gondola heading back to the earth the vehicle was falling almost at a speed of 1000 kms per hour
Details of the balloon flight
Balloon launched on: 2/2/1966 at 12:11 local
Launch site: Joe Foss field, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, US
Balloon launched by: Raven Industries Inc.
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Raven 141.500 m3
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 2/2/1965 at 14:45 local
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 2 h
Landing site: The gondola landed in a cornfield in Iowa
Cut-down command from the ground control
External references
- Balloon Flight Record Facilities for Atmospheric Research Nº 1, Fall 1966
- Magnificent Failure: Free Fall from the Edge of Space Craig Ryan - Smithsonian Books (2003)
If you consider this website interesting or useful, you can help me to keep it up and running with a small donation to cover the operational costs. Just the equivalent of the price of a cup of coffee helps a lot.
