Nov 6 1976
From The Space Library
Scientists at Johnson Space Center had used helium-filled balloons as the preferred means of carrying payloads to study the atmosphere above the ozone layer. Although sounding rockets and airplanes could operate in the medium between 30 and 50 km over the earth's surface, neither could remain stationary for very long, the rocket's time in the stratosphere being measurable in minutes; also, payload weight for an airplane must decrease with the altitude it can maintain, whereas a balloon would be capable of taking an 1800-kg payload as high as 50 km. DSC's Environmental Effects Office had used balloons to study effects on the ozone layer of fluorocarbons and other chemical interactions in the upper atmosphere; recent Natl. Research Council recommendations on reduction of use of freons had been partially based on JSC balloon-flight data. The JSC Space Physics Branch had used balloons to carry cosmic ray instrumentation for the study of high-energy particles, and had worked with the Utrecht Space Sciences lab in carrying an ultraviolet telescope by balloon for use in a range of light that was opaque to observation from earth. Balloons and payloads prepared by JSC were launched from Palestine, Tex., by the Natl. Center for Atmospheric Research, with parachutes for recoverable experiments. (JSC Release 76-70; JSC Roundup, 19 Nov 76, 1)
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