Here you can browse StratoCat's comprehensive database of stratospheric balloon launches, sorted by year. Please note that while the database covers approximately 75% of global balloon launch activity since 1947, it does not provide statistically representative values yet. Consolidating all available data may take several years. Each blue badge number represents the launches performed for that year. Click on a year to view details of the flights including launch base, flight duration, mission purpose, and payload landing location. Some experiments offer further details such as operational accounts, scientific objectives, results, reference links, and related images. For the latest updates, check out the table at the bottom of this page featuring the thirty most recent database entries.


Total number of balloon launches in the database: 15797

1947

16

1948

22

1949

48

1950

14

1951

64

1952

141

1953

532

1954

315

1955

336

1956

825

1957

483

1958

879

1959

502

1960

429

1961

407

1962

393

1963

341

1964

464

1965

482

1966

442

1967

386

1968

328

1969

347

1970

367

1971

248

1972

263

1973

244

1974

181

1975

271

1976

213

1977

210

1978

191

1979

235

1980

193

1981

139

1982

156

1983

146

1984

108

1985

115

1986

105

1987

104

1988

128

1989

103

1990

127

1991

113

1992

137

1993

86

1994

112

1995

113

1996

74

1997

112

1998

107

1999

125

2000

123

2001

96

2002

81

2003

82

2004

102

2005

128

2006

109

2007

73

2008

63

2009

66

2010

74

2011

56

2012

96

2013

196

2014

62

2015

50

2016

46

2017

119

2018

191

2019

283

2020

274

2021

155

2022

78

2023

85

2024

83

2025

4

Last 30 records incorporated into our database (last update 4-Mar-2025 - 09:55:02pm)

Launch baseDateFlight DurationExperimentPayload landing place or cause of the failure
Hurley (SD)2/22/20255 h 50 mLIGHTNING FLIGHT 718Near Harvey, Iowa, US
Hurley (SD)2/22/20256 hLIGHTNING FLIGHT 719Near Ottumwa, Iowa, US
Gap-Tallard5/??/1969---CERENKOV COUNTER TELESCOPE--- No Data ---
Aire Sur L'Adour9/??/1968---CERENKOV COUNTER TELESCOPE--- No Data ---
Fort Churchill (MB)7/29/197220 h 17 mPAYLOAD UNKNOWNNear Embarras, Alberta, Canada
Fort Churchill (MB)7/14/197215 h 23 mPAYLOAD UNKNOWNIn a lake, 50 miles N of Uranium City, Canada
Red Deer (AB)10/27/1972---MAGNETIC SPECTROMETERBalloon split after release and before lift off
Hurley (SD)1/24/2025---LIGHTNING FLIGHT 716NE of Bethany, Illinois, US
TIFR Hyderabad8/2/2024---PAYLOAD UNKNOWNChadachan taluk, Vijayapura district, Karnataka, India
TIFR Hyderabad1/17/2025---ELECTRIC FIELD STUDIESJalsangi village in Bidar district, Karnataka, India
Palestine (TX)2/22/1963---STRATOSCOPE II - SCIENTIFIC FLIGHT # 1 (FAILED ATTEMPT)Aborted flight due to balloon burst in launch pad.
Red Cloud (NE)7/8/1997 SOUNDER STRATOSPHERIC AIRSHIP--- No Data ---
Muluk11/19/2024---PAYLOAD UNKNOWN--- No Data ---
McMurdo12/21/202411 d 6 h 57 mSALTER TEST FLIGHT UNIVERSAL205 km ENE from McMurdo Station
Akron (OH)2/5/1959 RADAR AND CAMERASSomewhere in Wisconsin, US
Syowa2/3/202461 hLODEWAVE (LOng-Duration balloon Experiment of gravity WAVE over Antarctica)--- No Data ---
Syowa1/8/202466 hLODEWAVE (LOng-Duration balloon Experiment of gravity WAVE over Antarctica)--- No Data ---
Aire Sur L'Adour10/??/1966 UV TELESCOPE--- No Data ---
Aire Sur L'Adour9/21/1965---UV TELESCOPE--- No Data ---
Aire Sur L'Adour6/??/1965~ 5 hUV TELESCOPE--- No Data ---
Aire Sur L'Adour12/8/1964~ 4 hUV TELESCOPE250 km from the launch site
Taiki8/21/2024~ 2 hHIGHPER (High-altitude Propeller Evaluation Research)In the Pacific Ocean, 96 km SSE of Taiki, Japan
Hurley (SD)11/8/202428 dTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 647Last known position was over the Guinea Gulf
Holloman AFB (NM)3/26/1963---PROJECT STARGAZER II (Kittinger - White)Aborted flight.
León9/8/2022---BLUE JAY 2022--- No Data ---
Spaceport Snowdonia3/20/2020---CALL TO ORBIT PROGRAM--- No Data ---
León9/10/2024---BLUE JAY 2024--- No Data ---
Kourou10/31/20242 h 55 mBALMAN - TEST FLIGHTImpact in the Atlantic Ocean, 42 km NE of Kourou, French Guiana
Santa Cruz County (CA)10/23/20246 hPAYLOAD UNKNOWN33 km SW of Tonopah, Nevada, US
Roswell (NM)10/24/202410 h 30 mSCEYE- STRATOSPHERIC AIRSHIPIn Borden County, Texas, US