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Wallops Flight Facility

Launch updates from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

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New Mexico Scientific Balloon Campaign Update – Sept. 19

NASA’s Balloon Program Office launched the sixth scientific balloon flight for the fall 2025 campaign.

The Balloon Program Office, Optimization Opportunity Payload (BOOP) mission launched at 9:44 a.m. EDT (7:44 a.m. MDT) on Sept. 19. The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of 114,000 feet and flew for 4 hours, 44 minutes.

A large white scientific balloon in the shape of an upside down tear drop floats high in a bright blue sky with wispy white clouds, suspended by a long tether line connected to a white vehicle with a crane visible on the ground below in an open field. The crane is holding the BOOP experiment.
A scientific balloon carrying NASA’s Balloon Program Office, Optimization Opportunity Payload (BOOP) experiment launched from Fort Sumner, N.M., Sept. 19, 2025. The mission is part of NASA’s Balloon Program’s 2025 fall campaign.
NASA

BOOP is a balloon-based technology testing platform that makes it easier and more cost-effective for researchers to test new technologies without having to travel to the launch location. The platform hosts experiments ranging from shock and wind measurement instruments to star-tracking cameras, 3D-printed antennas, balloon avionics, and AI-designed structures.

To follow the missions in the 2025 Fort Sumner campaign, visit NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website for real-time updates of balloons’ altitudes and locations during flight.

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