relatively straightforward and uneventful. Because of the delicate film, special
considerations were made for the process of expelling excess air and loading the
balloon. The film limits are always based on current material strength capability.
Balloon films with increased strength-to-weight ratios greatly increase payload
capabilities for missions requiring flight above 50 km (164,000 ft).
The payload was the Low Energy Electron (LLE) experiment. The observations
from LEE provided one of the few highly precise measurements of the electron
spectrum over an extended period of time. The first test flight number 508N was
conducted on August 25, 2002 at Lynn Lake Airport, Manitoba, Canada. After a
successful launch, the balloon climbed to a peak altitude of 49.4 km (162,000 ft)
and was terminated normally after approximately 23 hours of flight time. As the
largest balloon ever successfully flown, it beat the world record set in 1975.
Fig. 2.4 The “Big 60” with its reflection in Lynn Lake. Photo courtesy of NASA/
WFF/CSBF
14 Stratospheric Balloon Descriptions