High-altitude balloon lifts space reentry capsule for flight test.
A prototype capsule that one day will return science experiments to Earth was tested by releasing it from a high-altitude balloon in Tillamook, Oregon. Technology like this capsule could one day return biological samples and other small payloads from space in a relatively short time.
NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program funded the flight test for the new type of orbital entry return capsule aboard one of the program’s providers, Near Space Corporation’s (NSC) high-altitude balloon. The Flight Opportunities Program procures flights on proven commercial suborbital platforms to flight-test space technologies of interest to NASA. Credits: Contributed Photo / Near Space Corporation
