NASA's scientific balloon program is managed out of the agency's Wallops Flight Facility.
The second test flight of NASA’s 2025 New Zealand Super Pressure Balloon Campaign was safely terminated at 1:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 13 (U.S. Eastern Time) over Argentina. The mission remained in flight for 9 days, 6 hours, and 36 minutes. Balloon operators from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas, sent flight termination commands […]
The first flight of NASA’s 2025 New Zealand Super Pressure Balloon Campaign was safely terminated at 7:46 a.m. Sunday, May 4 (in U.S. Eastern Time) after 17 days, 13 hours, and 47 minutes in flight around the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitude band. Flight controllers at the agency’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, conducted a […]
The second of two planned scientific balloon flights for NASA’s 2025 New Zealand Super Pressure Balloon Campaign successfully lifted off from Wānaka Airport, New Zealand, at 11:38 a.m. NZST, Sunday, May 4 (7:38 p.m., Saturday, May 3 in U.S. Eastern Time). The 18.8 million-cubic-foot super pressure balloon will ascend over the next few hours until […]
More than 16 days after lifting off from Wānaka, New Zealand, NASA’s football-stadium-sized super pressure balloon has completed its first full circumnavigation of the globe — a significant milestone for the test flight around the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes. The balloon crossed the 169.24 east longitude line at 7:22 a.m. Saturday, May 3 (U.S. Eastern Time). […]
After five days in flight, NASA’s super pressure balloon test flight carrying the HIWIND payload has nearly crossed the Pacific Ocean and is on track to reach South America Wednesday, April 23 at approximately 2 p.m. EDT (April 23, 6:00 p.m. UTC). The stadium-sized, heavy-lift scientific balloon, which launched from Wānaka, New Zealand, April 16 […]
The first super pressure balloon flight of NASA’s New Zealand Balloon Campaign reached its float altitude after lifting off from Wānaka Airport, New Zealand, at 10:44 a.m. NZST, Thursday, April 17 (6:44 p.m., Wednesday, April 16 in U.S. Eastern Time). The football-stadium-sized, heavy-lift super pressure balloon is on a mission planned for 100 days or more […]
The window for NASA’s next scientific balloon campaign in Wānaka, New Zealand, has opened. The launches include two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology. These stadium-sized, heavy-lift balloons will travel the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes for planned missions of 100 days or more. Teams from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility […]
