Long Duration Balloon

Yesterday, December 15, NASA launcehd the first of two Long Duration Balloons. These are huge balloons, filled with helium, that go to an altitude of about 25 miles, 120,000 ft. The balloon that was launched yesterday had a satellite attached to it, solar panels and all. The hope is that the balloon will stay afloat for 2-3 weeks, collecting data the entire time.

This particular project was called CREAM and it's mission is to find the perfect cup of coffee. If you are interested you can go to this website to see what they found: http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice0506.htm

This picture was taken just before the launch. For scale, the things at the base of the balloon are semi trailers and the little specs to the right of the balloon are people.

Just after lift-off, you can see the satellite hanging from the bottom of the balloon. Eventually the satellite will be cut from the balloon and recovered. The red above the satellite is a parachute so that when the satellite is recovered it can be resused.