Sep 26 1979
From The Space Library
FBIS reported a Tass announcement that the Soviet Union had launched a geophysical rocket for shortwave solar-radiation research. Vertikal 8 was launched at 6:20 a.m. Moscow time from an unspecified point in European Soviet Union to an altitude of 505 kilometers. At 100 kilometers on the upward trajectory, a high-altitude astrophysical probe carrying instruments from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union separated from the rocket; a recoverable package containing measurement results separated from the probe at 95 kilometers on the downward flight path and launched by parachute. Tass said the participating countries would process the information obtained from the probe. In an interview on Moscow domestic service, a Vertikal experimenter, Academician S.L. Mandelshtam, said some of the equipment was unique and could obtain a television image of the Sun in the shortwave band, which they had never done before. Evaluation of the magnetic tapes had been "a weak point with us," he said, sometimes requiring a year or two, but must be dealt with in five to seven months because "it is the active year of the sun." (FBIS, Tass in English, Sept 26/79; Moscow Dom Svc, Sept 26/79)
September 26-October 3: After a two-month delay, a 100-foot high balloon with a crew of four took off Wednesday, September 26, from Tillamook, Oreg., to try a nonstop balloon crossing of the United States. The planned six day 229-mile trip of the DaVinci TransAmerica carrying 8,488 pounds of gear under 216,000 cubit feet of helium had lasted out continuous westbound instead of eastbound winds, court battles between two major television networks, and investigation by a federal agency, said the Washington Post.
The crew consisted of Vera Simons, German-born artist and balloon pilot from McLean, Va., who had been planning the flight since 1971; Dr. Rudolf J. Engelmann, director of the DaVinci project and an employee of NOAA at Boulder, Colo.; Dr. Fred Hyde, an eye surgeon from Prairie Village, Kans.; and Randy Burch, a cameraman for NBC television. In August ABC television had sued the group to prevent NBC from having exclusive coverage of the flight; the suit was thrown out of court, but Simons said it had upset her and delayed flight preparations.
The flight, originally called a blend of science and art, had lost its science aspect two weeks previously when NOAA reclaimed $28,000 of equipment for measuring air pollutants, ozone levels, and radiation on the cross-country flight. NOAA said it had acted because "an agency employee" might have sought "personal gain," and agency lawyers were investigating any illegal conflict of interest. Englemann said he knew of no conflict of interest, calling charges against him "a helluva thing," according to the Washington Post. The 7-Up Company, which put 100 empty containers on board for distribution after the flight, would cover most of the $250,000 cost. Other sponsors included NBC; Louisiana Pacific, a wood and paper combine whose small balloons DaVinci would drop for finders to exchange for free trees; and camera manufacturer Nikon Inc.
The transparent plastic balloon "larger than the Goodyear blimp" had lifted off at 8:16 a.m. September 26 into strong westerly winds, rising 300 feet per minute and drifting at about 50 mph toward the western slope of the Rockies. Over the Teton mountains of Wyoming the crew had to don oxygen masks and stay 4,000 feet above the peaks, to escape downdrafts that could put the balloon into an irreversible drop. In this "most dangerous" part of the flight, the crew found that its 9-radio system was not working and they could communicate only on a radiotelephone with meteorologists in Massachusetts; they guessed that an antenna on the balloon had snagged in the rigging during launch. The private meteorologists in New England reported that crew members, frequently on oxygen, sounded "strange... not as sharp, like having a couple of drinks"; they had postponed discussing plans until the craft descended to lower altitudes. Traveling at between 17,000 and 18,000 feet, DaVinci had gone down to about 10,000 feet over Denver, Colo., but dropped ballast to regain altitude east of that city. More than 500 miles south of their planned route, the crew on Saturday was flying at 1,000 feet over Kansas, having covered more than 1,380 miles in 4 days. Governor John Carlin tried to radio thanks for DaVinci's visit "even if they didn't intend to come." DaVinci stayed over Kansas for 2 days, about 24 hours behind schedule for an arrival at Norfolk, Va., or Kitty Hawk, N.C. The crew complained of small planes flying close to the balloon: the FAA told them to note the registration numbers so that the agency could "deal with" the offending pilots. (Under federal rules, balloons-lighter-than-air craft-had right of way over all other aircraft.)
The balloon had unexpectedly crossed the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Mo., world headquarters of the 7-Up Company that was major sponsor of the flight; officials had thought the route would be 50 miles north. Air traffic controllers at St. Louis's Lambert Field (11th busiest in the United States) had diverted airline flights because of the balloon, which had right of way over all other aircraft.
On its stray southward, DaVinci set a new long-distance record for balloon flight over the United States: 1,084 miles at Denver, breaking a 1,058-mile record set in 1924. As it sailed over Kansas and Iowa in a more northerly direction toward its original course, it also passed the 100-hour mark to approach the 137-hour endurance record set by Double Eagle II in August 1978 on its transatlantic crossing. While the crew ate its Sunday dinner over Nebraska wheatfields, waiting for good winds, they got a call from Boston: Maxie Anderson, the Albuquerque balloonist who had been aboard Double Eagle 11 on the first transatlantic balloon trip, said "We're pulling for you." Nearly six days after takeoff, at 11:56 p.m, Monday, October 2, DaVinci was forced down in a northwest Ohio bean field after a thunderstorm chased it across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, caught it in the dark (after 1 p.m.), and dumped snow and heavy rain into the gondola. Three of the crew came down safely, but Vera Simons fractured her left leg. DaVinci had not broken Double Eagle 11"s endurance record (which would have occurred at 4:23 a.m.), but it had achieved the longest overload wind-borne balloon flight, 2,003 miles, surpassing the nearly 1,897 miles flown 65 years ago by a European balloon. (W Post, Sept 26/79, B-1; Sept 27/79, A-1; Sept 30/79, A-1; Oct 1/79, A-22; Oct 2/79, A-1; Oct 3/79, A-1; W Star, Sept 28/79; Oct 1/79, A-3; Oct 2/79, A-1; NY Times, Oct 3/79, A-16)
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