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Keith’s update: Today’s balloon attempt was aborted due to high ground winds. There is a backup ballloon for another attempt. Weather is expected to be questionable tomorrow and then it deteriorates further after that.
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Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
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Inspirational – Makes me want to drink RedBull
Nice to see the private sector starting to move into new areas.
Great presentation Dr. Clark.
I hope they set the record today!
Am I the only one who looks at this and sees an enormous waste of helium???
It was probably cancelled because he had too many Red Bull’s while waiting. 😉
From what I have read, the launched was scrubbed due to communications issues between the capsule and mission control. Question: why wasn’t the communications checked before the balloon was inflated? Seems all systems should have been checked first and then the loading of the helium and passenger would come later. Seems like a basic procedure step was overlookeed.
The radio problem was discovered and dealt with prior to inflation and passenger loading. The launch was scrubbed due to possible damage to the balloon during inflation caused by a wind gust, as well as an overall concern that the wind conditions were deteriorating.
The delay caused by the radio problem may have contributed to them just missing the brief opportunity when they had calm winds. Regarding whether a check was missed with the radios, apparently the radio overheated, which if true means that it worked when checked earlier but failed when checked again just prior to inflation.
Some good news – the next possible attempt is Sunday, October 14th, which just happens to be the 65th anniversary of Chuck Yeager’s flight.