Thursday, November 4, 2010

NearSys Flight 10G

The seventh flight of the year was launched Halooween morning form the Univeristy of Kansas. The mission as a practice for future KU flights next semester for the AE360 class, Introduction to Astronautics. The near spacecraft reaches an altitude of 98,500 feet according to the last GPS position report. Looking over the video, the near spacecraft made another 1,000 feet before the balloon burst, so it was closer to 99,000 feet. The flight was uneventful, until landing. The near spacecraft recovered in a tree too high for us to climb. It took three hours to get everything back. Next time, I'm bringing tree gear, like spikes and an expanding aluminum pole. Wings would be helpful, also.