SpaceBalloon

YOUR TIME MACHINE TO THE PAST!

SCIENCE

SPACE BALLOONS

WORLD'S HIGHEST BALLOON JUMP

The U.S. military has often been involved in setting aviation records. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Golden Age of Air Racing, members of the military competed in the National Air Races and set several records, helping to improve aviation technology in the process. Jimmy Doolittle set several records in the 1920s and 1930s, both as a member of the military and as a civilian. In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, another person who set records as a member of the military and in the mid-1980s as a civilian was Joseph Kittinger, Jr. While a member of the U.S. Air Force, Kittinger's work using high-altitude balloons helped the nation in the earliest days of the space program. He reached into the highest layers of the atmosphere and provided information on how humans would react to the rigors they might encounter. Through his high-altitude parachute jumps, he helped increase their chances of survival, while setting several records, some of which have never yet been broken.

Joseph Kittinger was born on July 27, 1928, and grew up near Orlando, Florida. He became fascinated with planes at a very young age when he saw a Ford Trimotor at a nearby airport. As a youth, he persuaded local pilots to give him free rides, and he soloed in a Piper Cub by the time he was 17. Kittinger attended the University of Florida for two years, then left to join the U.S. Air Force in 1949 as an aviation cadet and earn his wings. He served as a NATO test pilot in Germany until 1953, when he was assigned to the Air Force Missile Development Center at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. At Holloman, Capt. Kittinger flew experimental jet fighters and participated in aerospace medical research. In 1955, he flew the T-33 observation plane that monitored the "rocket-sled" experiment of aircraft medicine pioneer Col. John Paul Stapp in which Stapp took his aircraft to 632 miles per hour (1,017 kilometers per hour) to test how gravitational stress affected the human body.

JOE KITTINGER BALLOON JUMP FOOTAGE

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Scenes from 30,000 meters above

On February 28th, a team of four Spanish teenage students and their instructor from IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia launched a weather probe they designed and built themselves. Their helium-filled balloon carried a payload of electronics and a camera to take atmospheric measurements and photographs throughout the trip. After getting permission from aviation officials and getting good weather, they released the probe on a trip that took it over 30,000 meters (19 miles) above sea level, through winds gusting up to 100 kph, and temperatures reaching -54C (-65.2F), and traveling 38 kilometers overland in a time of 2 hours and 10 minutes. The Meteotek08 team has collected their images and data on both their blog and flickr page, and has kindly given me permission to share these photos here with you. (28 photos total)

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