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This collection consists of material documenting Ed Johnson's role with the Prienai Mission.
The Planetary Society, in cooperation with Titan Systems of Los Angeles and the Soviet Institute for Space Research (IKI), sponsored hot-air balloon flights in Prienai, Lithuania, in 1988. These flights were part of the scientific and engineering analysis test program for a potential Soviet robotic mission to Mars which would include deploying balloons in the Martian atmosphere. Ed Johnson was the pilot and owner of the Raven AZ-8 balloon, used during these balloon flights. While the Mars mission was first scheduled for 1992, it was moved to 1994 and then to 1996. An ambitious mission, it was finally canceled as international technical teams were working to adapt their hardware to fit on the lander.
NASM.2022.0001
Johnson, Ed
1977-1989
Ed Johnson, Gift, given to Museum in 2013 -- transferred to the Archives in 2022, NASM.2022.0001
0.21 Cubic feet (One letter folder, one slim letter document case.)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of the following material documenting Ed Johnson's role with the Prienai Mission: Johnson's balloon log books (1977-1988); Planetary Society documentation; Report on the First Mars Balloon Field Experiment in the USSR, 1988; philately and flown envelopes; Jet Propulsion Laboratory article on Johnson and his employee badge; Balloon Pilot's certificate; ballooning map; invitation from IKI; photograph of Soviet Science Team and USA Balloon Team; and a USSR/USA Mars Balloon 1988 video on DVD.
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Prienai Mission Collection (Johnson), NASM.2022.0001, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Ballooning
Prienai Mission
Mars probes
Collection descriptions
Archival materials