Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. I hope you all are enjoying a BBQ and some beautiful weather! Today is a day to remember and give thanks for those who have served our country. We salute you and thank you and your families for your service and sacrifices.

Ballooning has long been tied to the armed forces. There are some great stories which come out of it as well. Did you know that Area 51 and the UFO stories are likely tied to a ballooning project called Skyhook? 

Skyhook. There is a great blog post by EagleSpeak

Stratoscope was yet another great set of missions used to look at our sun and other worlds. Stratoscope looked at Mars. Just think, someday soon instead of using Earth bound balloons to study Mars, we might have balloons on Mars studying the Martian system. Although according to this NASA Quest page, balloons on Mars wouldn't make sense due to the low atmosphere, so perhaps Balloons on Venus would be a better plan. 

Stratoscope II on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. 

These are just some of the many great ballooning missions to come out of the University of Minnesota (where our workshop will be held next week) and the Navy. You can find many great photos from both projects on google! 

Have a great day!