NASA Launches First Scientific Balloon of Fort Sumner Campaign
A scientific balloon carrying the Salter mission, a technology test flight, launched Aug. 22, 2026. This was the first flight of NASA’s 2026 Fort Sumner campaign.
NASA/Kevin Dillon
The Salter Test Flight launched at 8:31 a.m. MDT (10:31 a.m. EDT) Saturday, Aug. 22 from the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, marking the first successful scientific balloon flight of the campaign.
The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of around 123,000 feet, and flew for a total of 4 hours, 8 minutes. The flight tested hardware for future balloon missions. A piggyback mission for Cubes in Space carried around 100 tiny payloads with small experiments designed by students ages 11-18.
A scientific balloon carrying the Salter mission, a technology test flight, launched Aug. 22, 2026. This was the first flight of NASA’s 2026 Fort Sumner campaign.
NASA/Kevin Dillon
The Cubes in Space payloads is attached to the side of the Salter test flight balloon gondola Aug. 22, 2026. The payloads launched as a piggyback mission on the test flight during NASA’s 2026 Fort Sumner campaign.
NASA/Kevin Dillon
