Super Pressure Balloon

WANAKA, New Zealand—NASA aborted the sixth launch attempt of its super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, Friday, May 27 (Thursday, May 26 in the United States) due to a ground support equipment issue. Inflation operations began, but the brakes on a key piece of equipment that guides and feeds the balloon material during …

WANAKA, New Zealand—NASA postponed the scheduled launch of its super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, Thursday, May 26 (Wednesday, May 25 in the United States) due to unacceptable wind conditions. Surface and upper-level winds were over 10 knots, which is well over the limits required to safely conduct launch operations. "A high-pressure system …

WANAKA, New Zealand—NASA is targeting Thursday, May 26 (Wednesday, May 25 in the United States), to conduct a super pressure balloon (SPB) test flight launching from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, on a potential 100-day journey. NASA will begin flight preparations in the early morning hours Thursday and will continue to evaluate real-time and forecast weather …

WANAKA, New Zealand – NASA postponed the scheduled launch of its super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, Friday, May 13 (Thursday, May 12 in the United States) due to unacceptable wind conditions. Today's ground and lower-level winds were over limits and not aligned, which can create a shearing effect during launch operations. Wind …

WANAKA, New Zealand—NASA is targeting Friday, May 13 (Thursday, May 12 in the United States), to conduct a super pressure balloon (SPB) test flight launching from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, on a potential 100-day journey. NASA will begin flight preparations in the early morning hours Friday and will continue to evaluate real-time and forecast weather …

WANAKA, New Zealand – NASA postponed the scheduled launch of its super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, Thursday, May 12 (Wednesday, May 11 in the United States) due to unacceptable stratospheric weather conditions for operations. Along with monitoring ground and lower-level winds (up to 300 meters) on launch day, stratospheric wind conditions at …

WANAKA, New Zealand – NASA postponed the scheduled launch of its super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 11, (5 p.m., Tuesday, May 10 in U.S. EDT) due to unacceptable weather conditions for launch operations. The team stepped through their launch actions taking the payload out to the flight …

The window for NASA's super pressure balloon (SPB) launch from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, opened Monday, May 9 (Tuesday, May 10 in New Zealand) for a mission that will take the 2.5-ton, football-stadium-sized balloon on a long-duration test flight. At this time, NASA is planning a launch attempt for Tuesday, May 10 (Wednesday, May 11 in …