Travis Few, N9EOD headed up the team to prepare, and launch the balloon. Light winds, a cool temperature, and plenty of enthusiasm made for a successful balloon launch at Kitty Hawk Flying field in Schertz, TX.
The balloon slowly descended via parachute to a field in Nixon, Tx after the balloon burst at over 100,000 feet. The pay load box is suspended between trees requiring some effort to retrieve intact. The contents survived the journey to be used again on another flight.
The APRS information from the payload transmitter showed the landing place in Nixon, Tx after an approximate 3 1/2 hr flight.
The first launch was a “proof of concept” event to verify all the equipment and procedures worked as planned. Travis Few, N9EOD headed up the team to prepare, and launch the balloon. Many things had to be taken in account, airspace, Notice to Airmen filed, and weather along with a packing the telemetry equipment and cameras into a small lightweight Styrofoam box. It is not just take a balloon out and launch as we all soon found out.