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The stratospheric balloon flights of Auguste Piccard in 1931-1932 changed the way people thought about conquering the stratosphere and began a race to the stratosphere via the balloon which rivaled the race to the moon in the 1960s. The ballooning of the 1930s, including Auguste and Jean Piccards' work and the Explorer flights, led to Project Helios during the 1940s. Project Helios, in turn, led to Skyhook, Stratolab and modern scientific ballooning. These modern projects, i.e., Project Skyhook, allowed longer look times than sounding rockets and were far more economical. Furthermore, they were valuable in obtaining data for both scientific missions and military interests.

 Identifier

NASM.1993.0050

Creator

United States. Office of Naval Research

Date

[ca. 1940s-1960s]

Provenance

Office of Naval Research, Gift, 1993, 1993-0050, Public Domain

Extent

2.18 Cubic feet ((2 records center boxes))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of photographs, correspondence, reports, clippings and press kits, mostly centering on the following ballooning topics: Project Skyhook, Project Helios, Stratoscope I and II and Stratolab. There is also material on general ballooning events, the Vanguard satellite and the VTOL.

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Restrictions

No restrictions on access

Topics

Rockets (Aeronautics)

Rockets, Sounding

Vertically rising aircraft

Balloons

Balloons, Sounding

Stratoscope I

Stratoscope II

Stratolab Program

Project Vanguard

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Press releases

Clippings

Reports

Correspondence

Photographs