Gearing up for the "Fort"

Our next balloon flight will be taking place some time near the first week in September. The balloon is in finishing now.

Picking up the pieces north of Amarillo.
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Off the pin! A beautiful launch!
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Ready for release!
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Pragmatism Again!

I was really sure that this would be the balloon that broke our string of failures in this project. The inflation, launch, and ascent were all absolutely beautiful. We were able to use the valve to control the ascent rate so that we entered cruising altitude at exatly the right speed. Just as the balloon was pressurizing, a part of one of the seals opened up and - well - that was that. The balloon came down just north of Amarillo. We went out that evening to look at it. The part that came open is now in our plant. We are in the midst of the failure investigation. I am hopeful that we quickly find the cause and are able to get back flying again this summer. Ever Onward.

Mike

Moving out to the flight line

We are moving out to the flight line. The winds are light and in a favorable direction. So far so good . . . .

Showing for Launch

The payload and launch crew are moving out to the flight line. The weather looks much more stable today than it did last time.

Big Bill on the Launch Pad
Posted by Hello

Adventures in the Stratosphere

Well I've established this web log to help keep people up to date on our activities for the ULDB flight out here in Ft. Sumner. We have cancelled for today. The weather looks better for in the morning. Saturday is also a possibility. The weather is clear and cold this morning with surface winds at about 5 kts. The winds at 500 and 1000 ft were too high for launch though. Some were as high as 20 kts. Here are some web sites to keep up with our progress.

http://tower.nsbf.nasa.gov

web cams: http://198.120.3.145

John DeMar's photos:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jsdemar/my_photos

Cosmocam:
www.cosmocam.com