On this day...

Remembering important events and dates of scientific ballooning history

October

  • October 3 1958

    Lt. Clifton McClure reached 99,700 ft in Manhigh III mission

    On this day in 1958, the United States Air Force conducted Manhigh III, the third and final flight of Project Manhigh, a program designed to investigate human performance and physiological responses at stratospheric altitudes. Lieutenant Clifton C. McClure launched from Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, aboard a 3,000,000-cubic-foot Winzen zero-pressure balloon and reached an altitude of nearly 100,000 feet (30,400 m).

    The flight proceeded normally during the ascent, but McClure gradually developed signs of heat stress. The capsule had not been cooled with dry ice before launch, and a malfunction in his drinking-water system initially prevented him from consuming sufficient fluids. As his body temperature continued to rise, mission controllers ordered the descent at about 14:00. The balloon initially descended slowly, but eventually established a rate of approximately 500 feet per minute.

    McClure's communications were later interrupted when a dropped instrument jammed the capsule's transmitter. Controllers confirmed that he remained conscious as the capsule descended through 25,000 feet. At 18:42, after approximately 12 hours of flight, the capsule landed near Holloman AFB. McClure survived, although his body temperature had reached 108.5°F (42.5°C), and recovered after treatment.

  • October 14 1938

    Attempt of launch of Star of Poland balloon

    On this day in 1938, the Polish stratospheric balloon Gwiazda Polski (The Star of Poland) caught fire during an attempted launch from the Chocholowska Valley in the Tatra Mountains. The project aimed to beat the record established by Explorer II in 1935, while conducting measurements of cosmic rays at different altitudes. Built by Aviotex in Legionowo, Gwiazda Polski was then the world's largest balloon. Its rubber-coated Japanese silk envelope had a capacity of 124,700 m³, a height of 120 m and a mass of 1,500 kg. The 500-kg gondola carried scientific equipment including a telescope with 30 Geiger-Müller counters and an ionization chamber.

    The two-man crew consisted of Captain Zbigniew Burzynski, an accomplished Polish balloon pilot and physicist Dr. Konstanty Jodko-Narkiewicz, a specialist in cosmic rays and leader of the first Polish expedition to the Andes. After several weather-related delays, the balloon was inflated with hydrogen. At about 4:00 a.m., while still near the ground, the envelope suddenly caught fire, apparently after a spark appeared near its top. The gondola was spared and neither crew member was injured. A second attempt planned for 1939 using helium was abandoned following the German invasion of Poland.

  • October 14 2012

    Third and last jump of Red Bull Stratos program

    On this day in 2012, Felix Baumgartner completed the third and last stratospheric freefall jump of the Red Bull Stratos mission, ascending from Roswell, New Mexico, to 38,969.4 m (127,852.4 ft). The ascent exceeded the previous highest manned balloon altitude of 113,720 ft, reached by Victor Prather and Malcolm Ross in 1961, although the mark remained unofficial because the descent was without the balloon envelope.

    After exiting the capsule, Baumgartner initially experienced 25.2 seconds of weightlessness before entering an uncontrolled spin that reached 60 revolutions per minute. He recovered control after about 13 seconds and continued the descent in a stable position, deploying his parachute after 4 minutes 22 seconds of freefall at 2,516 m.

    The mission established several records. Baumgartner reached a maximum vertical speed of 1,357.6 km/h (843.6 mph), equivalent to Mach 1.25, becoming the first person to exceed the speed of sound during freefall. He also set records for the highest altitude reached by a parachutist, the longest vertical distance covered in freefall, and the highest speed attained by a human without mechanical propulsion.

  • October 18 1934

    Jeanette Piccard becomes the first woman to reach the stratosphere

    On this day in 1934, Jeannette Ridlon Piccard became the first woman to reach the stratosphere during a balloon flight with her husband, Jean Felix Piccard. They launched on October 23 from Ford Airport near Detroit, Michigan, aboard the Century of Progress, a large hydrogen balloon equipped with a pressurized gondola. The flight was intended both as a scientific investigation of the upper atmosphere and as an altitude record attempt.

    About an hour after launch, the balloon passed 50,000 feet (15,240 m), making Jeannette the first woman to enter the stratosphere. The Century of Progress eventually reached 57,579 feet (17,550 m), establishing a women's altitude record. During the ascent, Jeannette also had to climb partially outside the gondola to free a tangled valve-release rope that controlled the balloon's lifting gas.

    The Piccards conducted experiments during the flight, including measurements of cosmic radiation, before beginning their descent after more than four hours aloft. After nearly three hours of descent, the balloon landed in a thicket near Cadiz, Ohio. Jean suffered a sprained ankle, while Jeannette and the experimental equipment were unharmed.

  • October 20 1957

    FAR SIDE balloon-launched rocket sets new altitude record

    On this day in 1957, the fifth flight of Project Far Side was launched from Eniwetok Air Base in the Marshall Islands. Developed by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Aeronutronic Systems, the Far Side program consisted of six low-cost, four-stage, solid-fuel rockets launched from stratospheric balloons. The concept was based on the rockoon principle, using a balloon to carry the rocket to high altitude before ignition, thereby reducing the effects of atmospheric drag during the initial phase of the ascent.

    For Flight No. 5, a General Mills zero-pressure balloon carried the rocket and its instrumentation to approximately 100,000 feet (30,500 m), where the rocket was launched through the balloon. Each Far Side vehicle carried between three and five pounds of scientific instruments designed to investigate cosmic rays, electromagnetic radiation, interplanetary gases and other phenomena.

    The October 20 flight was considered successful. The rocket was launched as planned and reportedly reached an apogee of approximately 4,000 miles (6,400 km).

  • October 20 2017

    Project Loon starts providing connectivity in Puerto Rico on the wake of Hurricane Maria

    On this day in 2017. following the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, Alphabe’s Project Loon deployed high-altitude helium balloons over Puerto Rico to restore communications after much of the island’s cellular infrastructure had been destroyed. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission authorized the experimental operation, allowing Loon to provide LTE connectivity from the stratosphere.

    Project Loon worked with AT&T and T-Mobile to connect users with 4G LTE-enabled devices, providing basic internet services including text messaging, email and web access. The balloons, launched from Loon’s Winnemuca base in Nevada used automated navigation systems to exploit stratospheric wind currents and position themselves over the island, forming a network capable of maintaining LTE coverage.

    By November, the system had provided internet connectivity to more than 100,000 people in areas where conventional communications infrastructure remained unavailable.

  • October 22 1797

    First parachute jump from a hot air balloon by Garnerin

    On this day in 1797, André-Jacques Garnerin, an inspector in the French army who advocated the military use of balloons, made a balloon ascent to demonstrate his first parachute. Garnerin had conceived the idea of using air resistance to slow a person’s fall while imprisoned during the French Revolution. Although he never used a parachute to escape the Hungarian prison where he spent three years, he continued developing the concept and completed his first design in 1797. It consisted of a 23-foot (7-metre) diameter canopy suspended from a basket by suspension lines.

    On October 22, Garnerin attached the parachute to a hydrogen balloon and ascended to approximately 3,200 feet (1,000 metres). He then transferred into the basket and severed it from the balloon. Because the prototype lacked a vent at the top, the canopy oscillated violently during the descent, but Garnerin landed shaken but uninjured about half a mile from the launch site. In 1799, his wife, Jeanne-Geneviève, became the first woman to make a parachute descent and in 1802, Garnerin performed a jump from 8,000 feet (2,400 metres) during an exhibition in England. He died in a balloon accident in 1823 while preparing to test a new parachute.

  • October 22 1960

    First flight of a Hot Air balloon

    On this day in 1960, Raven Industries conducted the first free flight of its experimental one-man hot-air balloon system at the abandoned military airfield at Bruning, Nebraska. Developed for the Office of Naval Research, the reusable system consisted of a 40-foot-diameter balloon, burner assembly, seat, instruments and fuel tanks, with a gross launch weight of 404 pounds including pilot P. E. Yost.

    Inflation began using two Herman Nelson aircraft heaters, but one failed, forcing the envelope to be inflated with a single heater. A westward breeze complicated the operation, and the balloon initially failed to lift because heat was dissipated by the surrounding cool air. The inflation crew moved it approximately 50 feet downwind, providing sufficient buoyancy for ascent.

    The balloon climbed at 50–100 feet per minute to approximately 500 feet above the terrain, where it remained level for about ten minutes before descending. Yost landed after 25 minutes, having traveled approximately three miles. Although it was not their intention, Yost and Raven Industries, with that flight of 1960, founded modern recreational ballooning. They produced lightweight aluminum-tube gondolas, affordable envelopes, and safe burners, and they found a market among civilians, those who wanted to fly but didn't want to learn to fly an airplane.

  • October 24 2014

    New stratospheric jump record set by Alan Estauce

    On this day in 2014, Alan Eustace completed the StratEx mission, reaching 41,422 metres (135,899 feet) above Roswell, New Mexico, in a helium-filled zero-pressure balloon. The flight was the third and final crewed mission of the StratEx program, developed by Eustace and Paragon Space Development Corporation to demonstrate a system for human stratospheric exploration using a pressurized suit rather than a conventional gondola.

    Eustace ascended wearing a custom Pressure Suit Assembly that incorporated life-support, communications and thermal-control systems. At the target altitude, he separated from the balloon and began a stratospheric free fall stabilized by a small drogue parachute. He reached a maximum speed of approximately 1,320 km/h (Mach 1.22), breaking the sound barrier, and remained in free fall for 4 minutes 27 seconds, covering 37,623 metres (123,435 feet) before deploying his main parachute. He landed safely approximately 125 km east of Roswell after a total flight lasting 2 hours 23 minutes.

    The flight established records for the highest altitude reached by a manned balloon and the longest free-fall distance using a drogue parachute.