Manned and unmanned high altitude balloons. Medical search. Frequent questions

Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a 'heightened alert' following a spy balloon from China that emerged over U.S. airspace in late January, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters. (fox5ny.com)
We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase,' said Melissa Dalton, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense. (fox5ny.com)
BEIJING - The White House defended the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days even as it acknowledged that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace earlier this month. (ksat.com)
Kirby spoke from the White House podium hours after China alleged that more than 10 U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace during the past year without its permission. (ksat.com)
It's my pleasure to introduce General Glen VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, who will provide an update on the ongoing recovery operations following the takedown of the Chinese high-altitude balloon that violated U.S. airspace. (andrewerickson.com)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican lawmakers on Sunday accused China of deliberately surveilling sensitive U.S. military sites with a suspected spy balloon and said the Biden administration had given Beijing an intelligence opening by not downing the balloon during its high-altitude drift through American airspace. (kcrg.com)
U.S. defense and military officials said the balloon entered the U.S. air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. (kcrg.com)
And the message they're trying to send the world is, 'Look, these guys can't even do anything about a balloon flying over U.S. airspace. (kcrg.com)
According to the US Defense Department, the balloon first entered the US airspace over the Aleutian Islands on January 28. (world-defence.com)
While both sides knew it was happening, the Americans would fly into the Soviet airspace with impunity, encouraged by the U-2's ability to cruise at an altitude of 70,000 feet, which for years remained beyond the reach of the Soviet air defense systems and fighter jets. (world-defence.com)
As of this writing, the U.S. has shot down four unmanned objects over U.S. airspace in the past two weeks (well, one was in Canada), with one being identified as a Chinese spy balloon. (misterboomer.com)
These objects are coming amid heightened tensions over North American airspace, a week after a U.S. warplane took down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. (nightwatchman.blog)

This same principle was, in turn, used for all subsequent high-altitude aircraft, including passenger airliners. (encyclopedia.com)
Unlike the Google's Project Loon , which aims to expand global communications using what amounts to cell towers dangling from high-altitude balloons, the Global Flight Systems approach offers control-a fixed-wing aircraft that can remain on station for up to two years at a time, and is not limited to flying where the winds blow. (aopa.org)
He made a series of observation flights with his balloon tethered by cable to the deck of the ship, making it the world's first aircraft carrier. (fiddlersgreen.net)
The inability of kite and aircraft meteorographs to reach higher layers of the atmosphere, operate in all weather, and provide data in real time helped foster the development of the first radio transmission of upper-air data. (noaa.gov)
American World War I fighter ace Frank Luke Jr. (the " Arizona Balloon Buster ") was fittingly commemorated in the call signs of the F-22 aircraft readied to shoot down the PRC spy balloon. (andrewerickson.com)
Swiss Space Systems officially formed in March, when it unveiled a concept to deploy small satellites from an air-launched - but unmanned - Suborbital Aircraft Reusable shuttle (SOAR) designed to launch from the top of a modified Airbus A300 jumbo jet. (space.com)
Advances in radio controlled models has made it possible for model aircraft to conduct low-altitude aerial photography. (gis.com)
Full-size, manned aircraft are prohibited from low flights above populated locations. (gis.com)
Miniature vehicles do not replace full size aircraft, as full size aircraft are capable of longer flight times, higher altitudes, and greater equipment payloads. (gis.com)
In both the old and new cases AARO has been investigating, the majority have been determined to exhibit 'unremarkable characteristics,' and could be characterized as unmanned aircraft systems or balloon-like objects, an AARO report said in January about its progress. (foxla.com)
Aircraft evolved rapidly during the First World War, with unmanned concepts soon following. (army-technology.com)
Aircraft evolved rapidly during the First World War, with unmanned concepts soon following, culminating in the Kettering Bug, a biplane which flew on a pre-set course using an on-board gyroscope and altimeter. (army-technology.com)
The US Air Force's (USAF's) U2S 'Dragon Lady' high altitude reconnaissance aircraft were reportedly used to monitor and gather intelligence on the Chinese surveillance balloon that a USAF F-22 Raptor shot down on February 4. (world-defence.com)
More importantly, the U-2 is known to be the only US military aircraft capable of flying persistently at altitudes exceeding that of the Chinese balloon, which is said to have been flying roughly between 60,000 and 70,000 feet throughout its voyage across the US and Canada. (world-defence.com)
As in the United States, drone usage has been on the increase in China, and just like here authorities are struggling with regulating the increase in unmanned aircraft traffic. (openminds.tv)
The violent interaction involves launching a drone from a manned aircraft into a hurricane, part of NOAA's ongoing effort to determine how uncrewed technologies can improve forecasting ability. (insideunmannedsystems.com)
Yet, "we throw away the instruments every time we launch a balloon," said Dr. Colm Sweeney, of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories Aircraft Program. (insideunmannedsystems.com)
The Defense Department established the Army-led Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Office, or JCO, almost two years ago, laying out a path for how it will develop a system to counter small UAS and establishing an interim group of systems to be used as a bridge to the enduring capability. (battle-updates.com)
The fact that the defense of leaders today includes anti-drone weapons is a reminder that the small unmanned aircraft could even be used for assassination attempts. (battle-updates.com)
The weapon is said to be ineffective against autonomous unmanned aircraft, which are not connected to their controllers by a communication channel. (battle-updates.com)
The balloon and its steel cable were a danger to any aircraft that tried to fly among them consequently forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft fire, since anti-aircraft guns could not traverse fast enough to attack aircraft flying at low altitude and high speed. (yeovilhistory.info)
Pentagon officials respond to this criticism by reiterating it is not likely the defense budget could accommodate a figure higher that the widely quoted $550 million per aircraft in the framework of a proposed production of up to 100 aircraft. (i-hls.com)

For example, the kites could only reach an altitude of under 2 miles (about 3 kilometers), which limited their ability to take observations in the upper layers of the atmosphere . (noaa.gov)
Samuel F. Perkins was only 27 in January 1911 when the called him "the greatest authority in the world on man-carrying kites. (historynet.com)
Though his kites were still unmanned at that point, he was gaining valuable experience in how to control them under various conditions. (historynet.com)
But the biggest spectacle that day, according to local newspaper accounts, was seeing Perkins lifted 200 feet off the ground by five huge man-carrying kites. (historynet.com)
He was not the first to experiment with man-carrying kites. (historynet.com)
Messenger pigeons, kites, rockets and unmanned balloons were also used for early images. (slideserve.com)

With a capacity of 30 million cubic feet of helium, it's the largest manned balloon ever flown. (hangar-7.com)
When operating for defence purposes, the balloons were flown at an altitude of about 1500m. (yeovilhistory.info)

Anything that flies, like hot air balloons or drones, must have official permission," said Zhang Qizhun, a researcher at the aviation and space research centre at the China University of Political Science and Law and a director of the aviation law committee of the Beijing Bar Association. (openminds.tv)
President Obama's use of unmanned armed drones to kill thousands of suspected insurgents, terrorists and, inevitably, innocent bystanders, has raised a furor at home and an anti-U.S. backlash abroad. (huffpost.com)
But unmanned aerial drones are not. (huffpost.com)

On May 27, 1931, Auguste Piccard (1884-1963) and Paul Kipfer became the first men to safely ascend into the stratosphere, riding in a pressurized gondola borne beneath a balloon designed by Piccard. (encyclopedia.com)
A handful of balloons were able to loft instruments into the stratosphere, obtaining interesting scientific readings. (encyclopedia.com)
In 1931, Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard and his colleague, Paul Kipfer, became the first humans to reach the stratosphere in Piccard's balloon, achieving an altitude of 51,762 feet (15,777 m). (encyclopedia.com)
Recent record-breaking balloon flights, including crossings of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the 1999 circumnavigation of the Earth, have all taken place, at least in part, in pressurized gondolas riding beneath balloons in the stratosphere. (encyclopedia.com)
Strato-Lab was developed to allow humans to make observations and perform experiments in the upper reaches of the stratosphere using balloons constructed of a thin polyethylene plastic film. (wikipedia.org)
January 2012: Equipment launches to the stratosphere to confirm it is ready for manned test jumps. (hangar-7.com)
Unlike the other manned program of the time -Air Force's MANHIGH- the STRATOLAB effort included allways a two men crew and three flight profiles: low and medium altitude ones to 12.000 ft and 40.000 ft respectivelly using an open gondola and the high altitude ones using the sealed gondola which reached the stratosphere itself. (stratocat.com.ar)

The report ' High Altitude Pseudo Satellite Market by Platform (Airships, Balloons and UAVs), Application (Communication, Earth Observation & Remote Sensing, Others (ISR, Monitoring, Search and Rescue, Navigation)), End User and Region - Forecast to 2028 ' The high altitude pseudo satellite market size is projected to grow from USD 85 million in 2023 to USD 189 million by 2028, at a CAGR of 17.2% from 2023 to 2028. (marketsandmarkets.com)
Airships platform to be fastest growing segment for the High-altitude pseudo satellite market during the forecast period. (marketsandmarkets.com)

The four men operating the drone were arrested for not adhering to proper unmanned aerial vehicle regulations. (openminds.tv)
Four men who were operating the drone were arrested for "endangering public security" which caused "seriously interrupted flight orders. (openminds.tv)
US Army could soon have a high-power microwave to destroy small drone swarms. (battle-updates.com)
The U.S. Army is set to begin development and integration of a high-power microwave capability to destroy small drone threats beginning in fiscal 2022, according to budget justification documents released with the financial request. (battle-updates.com)
Specifically, the Army is budgeting $18.73m in FY22 to develop, integrate and test new technologies that could lead to a solution that involves high-power microwaves, or HPM,, which could contribute to neutralizing both singular drone threats and entire swarms. (battle-updates.com)
The word drone is a negative with respect to the skill and effort that the men and women individually put into flying and executing a mission. (huffpost.com)

Chinese spy balloon flies above in Charlotte NC, United States on February 04, 2023. (fox5ny.com)
FILE - In this photo provided by Chad Fish, the remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, Feb. 4, 2023. (ksat.com)

Another Piccard innovation was to design a huge balloon that could lift the entire gondola while remaining only partially inflated. (encyclopedia.com)
An earlier high-altitude balloonist, American Hawthorne Gray, had died in the 1920s because he lost consciousness from a lack of oxygen at great heights (he rose to about 40,000 feet [12,192 m] in an open gondola). (encyclopedia.com)
Stratolab, an Evolutionary Stratospheric Balloon Project article by Gregory Kennedy Stratolab gondola at the National Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Florida Childs, Captain Donald R. (22 April 1960). (wikipedia.org)
John Wise constructed a special balloon for army service with an iron bottom to the gondola to keep bullets at bay. (fiddlersgreen.net)
When he had seen all he wanted to, he would jettison ballast from the gondola, so that the balloon rose to higher altitudes, where the airstream usually blew from the east, carrying him back to his own side. (fiddlersgreen.net)
And in 1935, as part of an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society, Captains Albert Stephens and Orvil Anderson of the US Army Air Corps ascended in a gondola attached to a helium-filled balloon named Explorer II, reaching a record-breaking altitude of 13.7 miles (22km) - higher than any commercial jet aeroplane is permitted to fly even today. (historyextra.com)
As the craft sailed high above South Dakota, a photograph taken from the balloon gondola captured a panorama stretching 330 miles (530km), revealing the curvature of the Earth for the first time. (historyextra.com)
The system used in the medium altitude flights consisted of an open gondola for personnel, similar to that used in the low level flights along with a larger balloon, as the system would reach altitudes nearing 40.000 feet. (stratocat.com.ar)
As ocurred in the low level systems, vertical control of the aerostat was acomplished by a simple valve in the top of the balloon, controled manually or electrically from the gondola and an appropriate amount of ballast (sand or iron dust). (stratocat.com.ar)
The gondola was attached to the balloon via an open cargo parachute for use as an automatic safety device in case of a balloon failure, serving also as load line. (stratocat.com.ar)
The purpose of the flight was to carry a Navy pilot, LCDR Malcolm D. Ross, and a civilian scientist, Dr. Alfred H. Mikesell of Naval Research Laboratory in an open fiberglass gondola to approximately 40,000 feet in order to carry out high altitude research. (stratocat.com.ar)

The balloon had confirmed and potential hazards that were factored in to the decision of when/where to take it down: obviously glass in solar panels, likely hazardous material that is required for batteries to operate in the balloon's harsh high-altitude deployed environment, and potentially (but not confirmed in real time) also explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon. (andrewerickson.com)

Project Strato-Lab developed out of the Navy's unmanned balloon program, Project Skyhook. (wikipedia.org)
These balloons were developed during the earlier Projects Helios and Skyhook by Jean Piccard and Otto C. Winzen. (wikipedia.org)
It included the construction of a sealed rounded capsule, which was comissioned by the Navy to General Mills Inc., a balloon firm from Minneapolis responsible at the time of their Skyhook unmanned balloon program. (stratocat.com.ar)

Man-made satellites include those platforms launched for remote sensing, communication, and telemetry (location and navigation) purposes. (slideserve.com)
Satellites at very high altitudes, which view the same portion of the Earth's surface at all times have geostationary orbits. (slideserve.com)
These geostationary satellites, at altitudes of approximately 36,000 kilometres, revolve at speeds which match the rotation of the Earth so they seem stationary, relative to the Earth's surface. (slideserve.com)
Due to their high altitude, some geostationary weather satellites can monitor weather and cloud patterns covering an entire hemisphere of the Earth. (slideserve.com)
The Others (ISR, Monitoring, Search and Rescue, Navigation) segment is forecasted to be the fastest growing segment as High-Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS) can be valuable assets for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Monitoring, Search and Rescue and Navigation applications due to their ability to provide persistent surveillance and data collection capabilities. (marketsandmarkets.com)
This is a major commercial opportunity for High Altitude Pseudo Satellites operators, as there is a large and growing population of people who lack access to reliable and affordable broadband internet. (marketsandmarkets.com)
These advancements have minimized the costs of launching satellites making high altitude pseudo satellite more affordable. (marketsandmarkets.com)

World War I saw the use of balloons for observations, too, as well as the extension of balloons into blimps and dirigibles. (encyclopedia.com)

Motivated by the growing interest in the application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to boost conventional cellular mobile networks' coverage and performance, this article proposes a UAV-to-ground terminal communication link based on free-space optics (FSO) technology for front-haul and backhaul network traffic. (researchsquare.com)
The key techniques used in the deployment of our proposed architecture are free-space optics (FSO) transmission, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). (researchsquare.com)
The modern military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that offer an invaluable contribution to battlefield surveillance and combat owe much to lessons learned from their predecessors, whether successful or otherwise. (army-technology.com)

And to rise higher would require not balloons or even planes but rockets. (historyextra.com)

This ascent was the first of many, and unmanned flights in balloons of similar design continue to this day. (encyclopedia.com)
He and his balloon were sent by ship to Fort Monroe in southeastern Virginia in July 1861, and, on his first ascent from the fort at the end of that month, he was able to report the presence of two Confederate encampments. (fiddlersgreen.net)

They can go to some unusual lengths to do that, such as dropping an unmanned glider from a balloon. (insideunmannedsystems.com)

Many agencies across the world are developing futuristic airborne manned and unmanned vehicles that are not really disclosed to the general public. (thinkscience.in)

As a child, you may have felt the wind on your face as you launched a colorful kite into the air and watched it soar high above you. (noaa.gov)
This artist's illustration shows the Swiss Space Systems unmanned SOAR space plane gliding back to its spaceport after launching a small satellite. (space.com)
According to Jaussi, test flights of an unmanned version of the SOAR shuttle could begin by 2017, with the first commercial satellite launches to commence in 2018. (space.com)
The SOAR concept calls for the rocket plane to ride piggyback atop an A300 jetliner to an altitude of about 33,000 feet (10,000 meters), then light a liquid-fueled engine to boost the craft higher than 50 miles, just shy of the internationally-recognized boundary of space. (space.com)
This Swiss Space Systems graphic depicts the flight planned for the company's unmanned SOAR space plane for satellite launches. (space.com)

Finally, recent record-setting balloon flights have all used balloons very similar in design to Piccard's, proving the soundness of his original design. (encyclopedia.com)
The Strato-Lab flights made a number of contributions to the manned space flight program. (wikipedia.org)
2012: One unmanned and two manned test flights completed ahead of the October 14 final jump. (hangar-7.com)
Lowe first used his balloon , "Great Western", in which he had been making exhibition flights. (fiddlersgreen.net)
So La Mountain's greatest feat was to use his old Atlantic balloon to make free flights over enemy territory. (fiddlersgreen.net)
In 1958, America's newly formed space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), announced the launch of Project Mercury, a series of one-manned orbital flights. (historyextra.com)
There had previously been many unmanned hot air balloon flights, and in 1783, the first flight carrying a land animal took off. (yuplife.com)

Indeed, Space Force officials frequently advocate for a distributed architecture over multiple orbital altitude ranges , ensuring that the loss of a single satellite does not derail a vital space-based capability. (airforcetimes.com)

Though the three most recent objects differed in size, maneuverability and other characteristics from the surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4 off the Carolina coast, officials moved to eliminate each one from the sky - actions that Pentagon officials believe have no peacetime precedent. (ksat.com)
On Thursday the Pentagon publicly exposed the balloon, and after that, "China maneuvered the balloon to leave the U.S.," Schumer told reporters Sunday. (kcrg.com)

Critics of his administration feared that there was a growing gap in military power between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. As a result, in November of 1954, Eisenhower secretly authorized that 30 U-2 spy planes be built and delivered to the CIA for the purpose of high-altitude reconnaissance. (misterboomer.com)

The Strato Lab program used both open and pressurized gondolas built by Winzen Research Inc and the balloon program in the Mechanical Division of General Mills, Inc. Strato-Lab built on the earlier programs with goals to obtain fundamental data in the fields of astronomy, astro and atmospheric physics, and human physiology at high altitudes. (wikipedia.org)
Since 2020, NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has conducted an Unmanned Systems Operations Program to support the rapidly expanding use of these systems across the agency. (insideunmannedsystems.com)

The missile flew approximately 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), reaching an altitude of up to 3,000 kilometers. (topnewsmedia.org)
The 1972 ABM treaty was clearly worded to apply to large-scale strategic anti-missile systems, defined as tested against targets moving faster the two kilometers per second and above 40 kilometers in altitude. (motherjones.com)
Since ICBMs move faster than two kilometers per second, and space is slightly higher up than 40 kilometers, the treaty would seem on first glance to apply. (motherjones.com)

Chinese official media report that China will test fly a manned spacecraft on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the People's Revolution on October 1st. (orbireport.com)

Since then, manned balloons have risen to over 113,000 feet (34,442 m), although high-altitude research for its own sake has largely ended. (encyclopedia.com)
The flight set an altitude record of 113,740 feet (34.67 km), lasted 9 hours 54 minutes, and covered a horizontal distance of 140 miles (230 km). (wikipedia.org)
Supported by a team of experts, Felix Baumgartner ascended in a helium balloon and made a freefall jump from 127,852 feet over Roswell, New Mexico, rushing towards earth at supersonic speed before parachuting to the ground. (hangar-7.com)
The first notable man-carrying kite flight in America not involving a family member came in 1907, when U.S. Army Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge was lifted to 150 feet, remaining at that altitude for seven minutes. (historynet.com)
At a St. Louis aviation meet he set what was then believed to be a world record when his man-carrying kite lifted him to 300 feet. (historynet.com)
This type of balloon is up to 200 feet tall. (andrewerickson.com)
Military officials determined that bringing down the balloon over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground. (kcrg.com)
It was flying at an altitude of around 2000 feet, and traveling at more than 60 miles per hour. (openminds.tv)
Barrage balloons were intended to defend against dive bombers and were set to fly at heights up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) although were often deployed at an operational height of 6,500 feet. (yeovilhistory.info)
The balloons used were the Low Zone version, inflated by approximately twenty thousand cubic feet of hydrogen gas. (yeovilhistory.info)

General VanHerck believes the PRC spy balloons' flight path is purposely planned, and that such a balloon employs its maneuverability to strategically position itself to utilize winds to traverse portions of countries that the PRC wants to observe for intelligence collection purposes. (andrewerickson.com)
With varied shapes and sizes and carrying instruments, some of them traverse to high altitudes and stay for long periods. (thinkscience.in)

The U.S. government has maintained the debris was merely the remnants of a high-altitude weather balloon, but speculation about extraterrestrials and government cover-ups has existed ever since, inspiring books, movies and TV shows - and, the celebration of World UFO Day. (foxla.com)

The first human flight occurred in 1783, when two men flew over Paris, France, in a balloon designed and built by the Montgolfier brothers. (encyclopedia.com)

California-based JP Aerospace amateur group successfully launches a rocket from a balloon to an altitude of at least 21.9 km above Black Rock Desert, Nevada. (orbireport.com)

In addition to setting the stage for manned and unmanned exploration of the atmosphere, it was also a precursor to manned exploration of the ocean depths, which also took place initially in a craft designed by Piccard. (encyclopedia.com)
Balloons changed little over the next century, continuing to be filled with hot air, which rises because it is less dense than the colder air of the atmosphere. (encyclopedia.com)
In addition, Piccard's flight opened the door for high-altitude research into cosmic rays , the properties of the atmosphere at such altitudes, and other areas of inquiry. (encyclopedia.com)

In the late 1920s, scientists began suspending primitive radio transmitters from large, unmanned balloons. (noaa.gov)

Stories and myths of human flight are among the earliest and most universal in human history, although the difficulties of flight kept man out of the skies for millennia. (encyclopedia.com)
They had been preceded into flight by a sheep, a rooster, and a duck that flew in an earlier Montgolfier balloon. (encyclopedia.com)
A missile fired on Feb. 5 by a U.S. F-22 off the Carolina coast ended the days-long flight of what the Biden administration says was a surveillance operation that took the Chinese balloon near U.S. military sites. (ksat.com)
Holliday got his best set of aerial photos from a V-2 flight in 1948, taken at an altitude of 65 miles (105km). (historyextra.com)
The objective of the program was to conduct research in aerospace medicine, collect geophysical and astrophysical measurements and evaluate military techniques and equipment for flight at extreme altitudes, using personnel as observers, as inexpensive servomechanisms for scientific instrumentation or simply as test subjects. (stratocat.com.ar)
A Hera target vehicle fails after launch from White Sands Missile Range , N.M., forcing U.S. Army's Space & Missile Defense Center to cancel a test-flight of a Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile due to intercept it. (orbireport.com)
The earliest cited example dates back to the mid-19th century, when the Austrian military attacked the enemy Italian city of Venice using balloons laden with explosives, but being entirely at the whim of the wind, a dangerously unpredictable flight-path saw many explode over Austrian territory. (army-technology.com)
Feng Chang, co-founder of Beijing FlyCam which specializes in aerial photography and videography, told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, "All unmanned aircrafts are banned from entering the 15-kilometre range of airports and from flying higher than 100 metres on flight courses elsewhere. (openminds.tv)

Likewise, the Aerospace Industries Association's vice president for national security policy, John Luddy, said suppliers are struggling with ballooning costs. (militarytimes.com)
According to JP Aerospace, the rocket is likely to have reached a much higher altitude since it was still travelling upward at more than 240 m/s when the its onboard GPS receiver sent its highest reading. (orbireport.com)

At the very beginning of the ballooning age, the army of Revolutionary France had formed a balloon corps, which used hydrogen balloons to allow observers to spot enemy movements. (fiddlersgreen.net)

It was a fantasy for centuries before any man flew. (psupress.org)

American officials have vigorously denied the claim, with Kirby saying Monday, "We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. (ksat.com)
Swiss Space Systems did not provide a timetable for manned missions, but officials said they were committed to the effort. (space.com)
The official said that the Trump balloon transits only became known after Trump left office and that intelligence agencies would offer briefings to former officials from the last administration on China's global surveillance programs. (kcrg.com)

In 1849 the Austrians launched balloons loaded with explosives over the city of Venice (the attack backfired when the winds changed and the balloons drifted back over Austrian lines). (huffpost.com)

The traditional edge of space is an altitude of about 62 miles (100 km). (space.com)

America's top diplomat abruptly scrapped a trip to Beijing and China's defense ministry said in a statement after the balloon fell into the waters off the Carolina coast that it "reserves the right to take necessary measures to deal with similar situations. (kcrg.com)

The Chinese allegation came after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed from above Alaska to South Carolina over a period of multiple days, sparking a new crisis in bilateral relations that have sunk to their lowest level in decades and prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a planned visit to China. (ksat.com)

By Wednesday the balloon was over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos. (kcrg.com)
The sidewinder missile and P51 are other examples of quick and cheap designs - the Sidewinder, pushed by 1 man at China Lake, is 50 years old nd the Air Force says it will be used into the late 21st century. (chicagoboyz.net)

Malcolm Ross and others developed the program to accomplish research required for the manned rocket program to follow. (wikipedia.org)
The rocket was intended to be lofted under a balloon from an altitude of 30.3 km to reach a maximum altitude exceeding 97 km, making it the first amateur-built rocket to enter space. (orbireport.com)

On March 12, 2012 the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that Lockheed Martin Aeronautics submitted an application for type certification for the model LMZ1M (LMH-1), which is "a manned cargo lifting hybrid airship incorporating a number of advanced features. (lynceans.org)

The team strives to develop an underwater docking station that can store energy generated by currents, tides, and waves to recharge underwater unmanned vehicles (UUVs), automated underwater vehicles (AUVs), and even manned underwater vehicles. (xxxsun.org)

The STRATOLAB manned balloon program was born in middle 50's when the US Navy refloated a previous project from late 40's called Helios and managed by balloon pioneer Jean Piccard. (stratocat.com.ar)

Meantime, off the coast of South Carolina where the Chinese balloon was shot down, crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, according to a statement Tuesday from NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. (ksat.com)

In studies involving wind and sustainability, unmanned systems are becoming increasingly prized for their ability to survive dangerous conditions to be used again. (insideunmannedsystems.com)
As reported in Inside Unmanned Systems in January, three potential replacements are on the list: Area-I's Altius-600, Barron Associates Wingsonde and Black Swift Technologies SO. (insideunmannedsystems.com)
The Soviets can employ other offensive systems, particularly manned bombers and long-range cruise missiles with improved penetration aids and stealth technologies, to assume a greater burden of the strategic offensive strike role and to exploit the weaknesses in US air defense capabilities. (motherjones.com)

That balloon, Nigel, was filled with Hydrogen (H 2 ) and that pointy thing was the tie-off for the long tube that transported the hydrogen from the generator to the balloon. (fiddlersgreen.net)
Consequently the balloons required topping up with hydrogen at regular intervals. (yeovilhistory.info)

The three objects, including one shot down Sunday over Lake Huron, were unmanned and traveling at such a low altitude as to pose a risk to civilian commercial air traffic, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. (ksat.com)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the full Senate will get a briefing next week on the balloon, including details about its surveillance capabilities, and that the administration is considering measures against the Chinese for "their brazen activities. (kcrg.com)
A US defense official has reportedly confirmed that the U-2S was used as part of the broader response to the Chinese surveillance balloon. (world-defence.com)

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy on Sunday over the "U.S. attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force. (kcrg.com)
That it could be maneuvered ran counter to China's contention that the balloon - claimed to be a civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research - had limited "self-steering" capabilities and had "deviated far from its planned course" because of winds. (kcrg.com)

The balloonist G. Tournachon made photographs of Paris from his balloon in 1858. (slideserve.com)

PARIS - A startup Swiss spaceflight company is planning to upgrade its proposed private satellite launch system into a manned suborbital space shuttle for science missions, the company announced Monday (June 17). (space.com)

NASA 's Glenn Research Center plans to foster a R&D effort on advanced technologies for electrostatic propulsion power processing through the design of a high-performance 5-kW-class ion propulsion system. (orbireport.com)

A US weather balloon launched to gather weather data close. (topnewsmedia.org)
However, the Dragon Lady is known to have been equipped with a wide array of sensors that could be used to gather high-quality visuals of the balloon and detect any electronic emissions that may be coming from it. (world-defence.com)

In addition to their wartime roles, balloons were quickly pressed into service by scientists looking for a stable platform, indeed, any platform, for scientific studies at high altitudes. (encyclopedia.com)
In addition, balloons provided scientists the opportunity to obtain air samples and instrument readings at a variety of altitudes. (encyclopedia.com)

It was through the midnight observations with one of my war-balloons that I was enabled to discover that the fortifications at Yorktown were being evacuated. (fiddlersgreen.net)
Despite their advantages over manned balloon ascents, which were very dangerous, kite observations also had several disadvantages. (noaa.gov)

Constructed from strips of high-performance polyethylene (plastic) film just 0.0008 inches thick. (hangar-7.com)

Tracy Walder, former CIA officer and FBI special agent, joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to discuss reaction to the Chinese Spy Balloon and the latest 'object' shot down Friday over Alaska. (fox5ny.com)
but there are several upcoming opportunities for high-level talks with the Chinese, including as early as this weekend. (ksat.com)
Video caught by WMBF's meteorologist Robert Whitehurst shows the moments after the US shot down the Chinese balloon off the coast. (kcrg.com)
A senior administration official said other Chinese balloons transited the U.S. at least briefly on three different occasions during the Trump administration and once previously since Biden took office. (kcrg.com)
This entire Chinese balloon saga has brought back the memories of the U-2 crisis of 1960, which provoked a tense confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union (USSR). (world-defence.com)

From the earliest of times man has envied the birds in their ability to fly. (encyclopedia.com)

Unfortunately, their early efforts were blighted by the stresses and strains of operating captive balloons in the field, especially when these had to be inflated from a gas main and then towed around the countryside in a fully inflated condition. (fiddlersgreen.net)

The Army plans to conduct a development phase to establish a high-power microwave capability from FY22 through the second quarter of FY23, according to a timeline laid out in the documents. (battle-updates.com)

Aside the instrumentation to sense and indicate altitude and rate of climb or descent, the major difference was the addition of a suitable oxygen supply and cold weather clothing for the crew. (stratocat.com.ar)
We all know that the official answer for most UFO sightings in the past has been Weather Balloons, and rightly so. (thinkscience.in)
use of weather balloons has been an important tool in that effort. (insideunmannedsystems.com)

Four previous balloons that approached/transited America (one in Biden era, three in Trump era) were NOT detected in real time-there was a concerning situational awareness gap. (andrewerickson.com)
North America is projected to be the largest regional share of High-altitude pseudo satellite market during the forecast period. (marketsandmarkets.com)

Project Strato-Lab was a high-altitude manned balloon program sponsored by the United States Navy during the 1950s and early 1960s. (wikipedia.org)

Early balloons collected most of their data from the troposphere. (encyclopedia.com)
In the early days all crews were men, but women were quickly assigned to the role in order to release men for fighting overseas. (yeovilhistory.info)

Montauciel the sheep went up in the balloon, accompanied by a duck (a bird already used to high altitudes) and a rooster (a flightless bird). (yuplife.com)

They studied balloons, sailplanes, and conventional airplanes with mufflers, but found them all lacking. (smithsonianmag.com)

Space and the United States Navy: Manned Space" (PDF). (wikipedia.org)
3 "Man In Space! (psupress.org)

They drew a strong distinction between the three shot down over this weekend and the balloon from China. (fox5ny.com)
China, meanwhile, accused the U.S. of indiscriminate use of force when the American military shot down the balloon. (kcrg.com)
It defies belief to suggest there was nowhere" between Alaska and the Carolinas where the U.S. could have safely shot down the balloon, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. (kcrg.com)

From the heights, balloons could look back at the Earth, taking photos for later study. (encyclopedia.com)

Anatomy25

Organisms12

Diseases36

Chemicals and Drugs19

Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment60

Psychiatry and Psychology2

Phenomena and Processes62

Disciplines and Occupations5

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Kites6

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20232

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Satellites7

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Aerial vehicles3

Rockets1

Ascent2

Glider1

Airborne1

Soar5

Flights7

Orbital1

Pentagon2

Reconnaissance1

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17831

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