The objective of the flight was to test a new balloon with a volume of 29 million cubic feet developed by Raven Aerostar (Model SF-490) and being qualified by NASA's Balloon Program Office.
The payload was composed by a special gondola nicknamed "Thunderbird", which was developed by CSBF to be used for these kind of technological missions. It can transport a huge amount of ballast to test the balloon at maximum load capacity as well several cameras an sensors to control it's performance during the flight.
Balloon launched on: 9/12/2012 at 16:13 utc
Launch site: Scientific Flight Balloon Facility, Fort Sumner, (NM), US
Balloon launched by: Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon
Flight identification number: 634NT
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 9/12/2012 at 20:30 utc
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 4 h 20 m
Landing site: W of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. US
The mission started at 16:14 utc on September 12, 2012 from the Fort Sumner Municipal Airport in New Mexico and was terminated at 20:31 utc after 4 hours and 53 minutes aloft. Landing zone was located 52 miles NW of Fort Sumner. Recovery of the balloon, gondola and the flight train was completed on September 13.
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