On February 23, 1945, three preteen boys, Larry Bailey and brothers Ken and Bob Fein, were playing in North Dorr, Michigan, near the Fein’s house. All of a sudden, a mysterious object appeared floating overhead and descend at a 45° angle. The boys knew that it was about to land close by. “We were so excited, we got a family friend Joe Wolf to come with us in his pickup truck, and we tracked it,” said Bailey.
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Balloons took to the skies in record numbers on Friday, April 7, as 82 hot air balloons launched from Lydden Hill Race Circuit at
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A lot of the science and space research involving balloons also needed daring humans to fly to the edge of space, test instruments, and experience the effects of the dangerous near-space environment on human physiology. Some even lost their lives in their effort to contribute to our knowledge of space travel, astronomy, astrophysics, and human physiology at high altitudes.
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Even though ballooning technology has improved considerably and communication is advanced, the race remains a real flying adventure. It tests the pilots’ skills and endurance as they fly nonstop at high altitudes for days and nights, often over remote areas and large water transits, harnessing the wind.
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In the 1970s, a small fraternity of daring balloonists used to make their Dawn Patrol ascents by launching in the pre-dawn hours. Balloon pilot Tom Gough, who then did pay rides for Fiesta founder Sid Cutter, was one of them. “Fiesta didn’t recognize us [Dawn Patrol] in those days.
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Twice a day, every day of the year, weather technicians release about six-foot round weather balloons from 900 locations worldwide. An instrument called a radiosonde is attached to the balloon to measure pressure, temperature, and relative humidity as it climbs high up into the atmosphere.
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Konyukhov plans to launch in a Roziere balloon from Australia in June 2016 and fly around the Southern Hemisphere. He hopes to break the record set by American adventurer Steve Fossett who completed his round-the-world flight in 13 days and on the sixth attempt, in 2002.
Read More / WatchThough altitude sickness was also known to mountaineers, it was the balloonists who had traveled the highest and experienced the perils of the upper
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