Balloons ultimately won the space race and massively contributed to Apollo’s success. Balloons were the first to go to the stratosphere, the first to bring man to 100,000 feet above the earth. They were used by the military for spy operations, releasing satellites, and in 1964 launching the world’s largest spacecraft with NASA.

So how did balloons come to be such an important part of space exploration? And what mysteries of the universe did they unlock?

Balloons Paved The Way For Space Exploration

In the early 20th century, a Swiss scientist named Auguste Piccard began experimenting with pressurized capsules in an effort to make space travel possible. His work would eventually lead to the first manned space flight and set the stage for future space exploration.

Piccard’s first attempt was The Explorer I, a high-altitude balloon-based craft filled with hydrogen that reached over 16,000 feet. However, Piccard was not content with just breaking new altitude records – he wanted to explore what was beyond them.

Piccard built The Explorer II, a pressurized capsule that could be attached to a high-altitude balloon and carried into space. On May 27th, 1931, The Explorer II, a massive balloon, made its maiden voyage, reaching an altitude of over 52,000 feet before landing safely back on earth.

This achievement marked the first time that man had ever traveled into the stratosphere unaided by machines. It also paved the way for further space exploration – including NASA’s landmark Apollo missions in the 1960s.

First Human Above 100,000 Feet

In 1960, Winzen Research, a balloon company that manufactured high altitude balloons, built a balloon for the US airforce allowing Joseph Kittinger to jump from a balloon at an altitude of 102,800 feet. Kittinger was a colonel in the United States Air Force and made history with his space jump mission on August 16th, 1960. He became the first person to take a one-way balloon trip to the stratosphere and jump from a stratospheric balloon at an altitude of over 100,000 feet.

Kittinger’s jump was part of Project Excelsior – a military program designed to test the limits of human endurance. The jump went without incident, but Kittinger suffered extreme pain and discomfort due to the cold temperatures and low oxygen levels at such high altitudes. The learnings from Kittinger’s high-altitude balloon jumps would give American astronauts the technical information they needed to advance safety when going to space.

Despite these challenges, Kittinger’s record-breaking jump helped pave the way for space exploration – and remains one of the most impressive feats in aviation history.

Balloons And The Space Race

The Soviet space program put Russia in the lead of the space race, with the release of the Spudnik satellite and Yuri Gagarin becoming the first astronaut in 1961. He was the first human to reach space, spending 108 minutes at 187 miles above the earth.

Balloons As A Vehicle For Rockets

In the 1950s, balloons were being ejected by rockets, and rockets were being assisted into space by balloons. In Project Farside, huge General Mills polyethylene balloons, among the largest ever flown, lifted a series of two thousand pound rockets a hundred thousand feet above the Earth. No balloons ever before had gone to such an extreme altitude lifting so much weight. The rockets were fired from over 100k feet and were able to soar four thousand miles out into the unknown to obtain scientific data central to man’s mastery of space. These classified projects were recently released to the public.

A total of six Farside rockets were fired from Eniwetok in late 1957. A secondary goal of Farside was to test concepts for a larger five-stage follow-on vehicle, which was to reach the vicinity of the moon. Although this project never materialized, balloon use continued in the 1960s as satellites and to help NASA Saturn boosters return safely.

Many rockets continued to deploy weather balloons and satellites at altitudes of 175,000 to 250,000 feet throughout the 1960s and 1970s. These meteorological balloons in the ’60s provided real-time weather information and direct communication through balloon satellite networks.

The World’s Largest Space Craft Goes To Orbit…It’s A Balloon

On Jan 25th, 1960, the 13-story Echo I “Satelloon” rocketed into space from the Pacific Missile Range in California. A pill-shaped canister atop a rocket held a giant balloon over 135 ft diameter plastic and aluminum sphere. The sphere inflated an hour after launching as the rocket moved over South Africa. During its lifetime in orbit, the Satelloon would be viewed by more people than any other man-made object in space and was by far the largest spacecraft ever to be orbited by man.

The Echo I was boosted into space by a Thor Agena rocket. It was packed in tight accordion folds, with an 11 cubic foot canister, which separated some eight hundred miles above South Africa, allowing the Satelloon to unfold and inflate to its full size of 1.3 million cubic feet. The Satellon was the most advanced communications satellite program and led the world towards a global communication Network. The Satelloon stayed in orbit for eight years, was in a thousand-mile orbit, and traveled nearly 500 million miles at an orbital speed of 16,000 mph.

First communication via satellite…a balloon

When the Satelloon had successfully inflated, President Eisenhower sent the first message via space, and the communication was received across the world. Russia may have been the first to send a satellite (Sputnik) into space, but the US had created the first satellite to reflect communication from the earth and send the communication right back to it. Soon after the Satelloon was used to communicate a voice message, it was used to transmit the first video communication.

One of the most fascinating things about the Echo I and the Echo II is that anyone could conduct experiments, as it was a completely peaceful device. Any means of furthering people-to-people communication throughout the world is desirable. Both the Echo I and Echo II were giant mirrors in the sky that reflected radio signals beamed to them.

Saturn Rocket Booster Return To Earth Via…Hot air balloon

Although Elon Musk has been successful in reusing boosters, SpaceX wasn’t the first to have controlled landings of rocketship boosters. The first successful controlled descents of rocket boosters were tested as part of the Saturn program in the 60s. In 1965, the Paravulcoon was designed as a unique recovery system combining the reliability of a parachute and the versatility of a hot air balloon. It was developed in a joint mission by Raven Industries and Honeywell as a means of securing a safe, soft recovery of sensitive payloads and reusable boosters. To this day, it was the only recovery system capable of hovering at a preselected altitude and providing a controlled landing with touchdown velocities of only a few feet per second.

The system used the buoyancy of the hot air in an aerially deployed and heated balloon to provide atmospheric flotation and controlled descent of the recovered body.

The activation of the system began with a large parachute to decelerate the descent to a subsonic velocity. At a pre-determined altitude, the Paraculcoon deployment was initiated. The balloon was extracted from its storage and streamed behind the payload body. As the system descended, the envelope was filled by ingesting air through its open throat, and peripheral inflation scoops. When the balloon was fully inflated by ram air pressure, the envelope was heated through the open throat by an initial heat generator. The resulting buoyancy of the hot air further decelerated the system until buoyant equilibrium was attained. By controlling the rate at which sustaining heat was added to replace steady-state heat losses, the payload was able to be floated at a preselected altitude or lowered to the ground at a controlled rate.

With the improvements in lightweight high-temperature flexible materials in the 1960s, the Paravulcoon was able to deploy the balloon in hypersonic pre-entry, creating a single-stage recovery for primary stabilization, deceleration, and terminal recovery.

The Paravulcoon ran over 140 test flights and was suitable for recovering payload weights ranging from 5000 – 400,000 pounds. Upon ignition of the burners, it took 40M BTU and over 220 seconds to arrest the descent of a 250,000-pound payload. The Burners were ignited at 20,000 feet, and the balloon reached equilibrium to hover at 5,000 feet.

The Paravulcoon had multiple applications, including manned satellites, space shuttles, space vehicles, space payloads, aerial snatching, and rocket booster recovery. This photo shows one of the tests for the Saturn booster recovery in 1965.

Future Uses Of Balloons In Space

The unique capabilities of the balloon will continue to make it a practical, useful scientific device for many years to come. Although we now have rockets that can take tourists to space, the balloon will always be the most economical vehicle, providing one of the most reliable methods of attaining the upper atmosphere.

For those interested in space tourism, there are a variety of options. You can take a rocket to space with SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, or Blue Origin and experience weightlessness, or you can take a 1960s-style helium-filled balloon.  The tech is good and hasn’t changed a lot since the 60s…Space Perspective is a space tourism company that is using the same plastic balloon technology that high-altitude balloon experiments have used for years.  We are excited about all the options for space travel but are most excited about the future opportunities to take stratospheric flights via a lighter-than-air vehicle.

In the future, balloons and balloon-like devices will find new applications in outer space. This author believes the next use may be for the collection of solar energy. Just a few pounds of aluminized plastic film could be shaped into a giant mirror capable of collecting many kilowatts of power. The same technique could make huge microwave reflectors and radio telescopes. Because of the very low mass-to-size ratio, inflatable containers may make ideal space dwellings where humans can live.

Without the pioneers of balloon technology, space would still not be accessible today. Balloons have been used for centuries to transport people and objects into the sky, and they continue to play a vital role in space exploration. Thanks to the ingenious inventors who developed recovery systems like the Paravulcoon, we are now able to safely recover sensitive payloads and reusable boosters in space. Without these innovations, our understanding of space would be far less advanced than it is today.

Additional FAQs About Ballooning’s Contribution To Winning The Space Race

Who Won The Space Race?

The United States won the space race, as they were the first country to land a human on the moon. However, the United States also won the satellite race by creating the first back-and-forth communication with the Satelloon.

How Did The Space Race Impact The Cold War?

The space race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve supremacy in space exploration. The space race began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. The United States responded by launching Explorer 1, the first American satellite. However when the United States successfully launched Echo 1 in 1964, creating the first bi-directional communication with a satellite.

The space race intensified during the Cold War as both sides sought to demonstrate their superiority over the other. The Soviets were the first to send a man into orbit, with Yuri Gagarin’s flight on April 12, 1961. The United States followed suit on May 5, 1961, with Alan Shepard’s suborbital flight.

The space race continued until 1975 when the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Agreement, which signaled an end to the Space Race and ushered in a new era of cooperation between the two countries.

What Was The Venus Balloon Mission

In 1985, the Vega Venus ballooning missions were launched as part of the Soviet Union’s Vega program. The goals of the missions were to study the atmosphere of Venus and to test out new technology for future planetary exploration missions. Each balloon traveled about 30 percent of the way around the planet at a float altitude near 54 kilometers and collected data on the composition, pressure, and temperature of the planet’s atmosphere. The Vega program was a major success, and the data collected during the missions is still being analyzed today. By 1991, five successful launches had been completed, and all six balloons survived their journeys around Venus. This data has helped scientists gain a better understanding of our closest planetary neighbor and paved the way for future exploration. The Vega program is an important part of planetary science and a perfect example of the human ability to explore, discover, and understand our universe.

Is There A Balloon That Can Go To Space?

Balloons have been going to space since the early 1960s. The Satelloon launched in 1960, and Satelloon II in 1964 was a 135 ft in diameter balloon that spent 8 years in space. A new company called Space Perspective is taking balloons to the edge of space at 100k ft. This year a Russian is trying to take a hot air balloon to 100k feet.

How Big Is The Space Balloon?

Space balloons are very big! The Satelloon in 1964 was 135 feet in diameter and could be seen during night and day. The passenger balloon looking at taking people to the edge of space is a few million cubic feet.

Want To Learn How Hot Air Balloons Work?

We actually wrote an in-depth article about how balloons work and how they are steered! Check it out.

The history of ballooning is a fascinating one. It includes Benjamin Franklin, a couple of french paper makers, and a couple of barnyard animals. After many repeated experiments during more than 20 centuries, the secret of aerial navigation was discovered toward the end of the 18th century in 1782 when Stephen (Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier) and Joseph Montgolfier made their ingenious aerostatic experiment. Smoke from fire hovered over Parisian rooftops for hours before it ascended into clouds – this inspiration that led to an invention that changed our world forever!

The first hot air balloon flight tests

The younger brother Stephen realized that if a light paper bag were to be made and filled with smoke or ash from their fire, then it would naturally rise up towards the sky. In November of 1782, in Avignon, the Montgolfier brothers built a light paper bag in an oblong shape with approximately 40 cubic feet of capacity and used it to test their experiment. 

The paper bag had an opening at the bottom, and when they applied fire beneath it, the internal temperature increased, causing it to rise. Their first balloon experiment rose to a height of 75 feet. Encouraged by their success, the Montgolfier brothers made their next experiment on a much larger scale. Their new envelope was 600 cubic feet in capacity and in a spherical shape. The shape of the envelope was designed after a large short-necked glass bottle used in chemistry called a “Balloon.” When the heat was applied to the opening of the paper balloon, its strings broke and ascended to 600 feet above the ground.

The Montgolfiers were natives of Annonay and were the sons of a wealthy paper manufacturer who had retired from business and left it in their hands. From the history that is afforded of them, it appears that they were both attached to the study of mathematical science; but it seems they were not exactly acquainted with the true nature of the substance that caused the ascent of their balloons. They attributed the ascending power to a peculiar kind of gas that was emitted by the combustion of chopped straw and wool mixed together. This, however, does not in the least detract from the merit of their discovery.

The success of larger hot air balloons gave Motgolflier brothers the confidence to build a very larger balloon. This time the hot air balloon was 35 feet in diameter. On April 3rd, 1783, the balloon, after being filled and released, reached a height of 1000 feet and covered a distance of 3/4 of a mile. It was time for the Montgolfiers to show off their invention to the public. They built a spherical paper balloon with nearly 23k cubic feet and had a lifting capacity of 500lbs. The hot air balloon was released from its tether ropes and ascended to an astonishing 6000 feet above France.

Soon after the experiment had been made at Annonay, Stephen Montgolfier arrived in pairs. He was immediately invited to attend the sitting royal academy of science and, by that body, requested to repeat his experiment at their expense. He cheerfully accepted the proposition and soon constructed a large balloon of elliptical shape 72 feet high and 41 feet in diameter. When completed, it was found to weigh 1000lbs. It was finished and decorated in a most magnificent style, elegantly ornamented over its outer surface with beautiful and appropriate designs. In a preliminary experiment, it raised 8 men off the ground.

First Hot Air Balloon Ride

On the 12th day of September 1783, the day appointed for the first balloon flight exhibition before the members of the Royal Academy ascended with a load from 400-500lbs. Unfortunately, due to high winds, there was a violent gust of wind damaging the balloon. A new hot air balloon was ordered to be built in the same dimensions. The new balloon included a basket of wicker-work and was inflated in the presence of king Louis XVI and the royal family in Versailles. The French king suggested a sheep, a duck, and a rooster to be placed in the basket as the first hot air ballooning passengers. With these three living animal passengers, the balloon was launched into the upper air and reached an altitude of 1500 feet. The animals landed safely at a distance of 10,000 feet from the place of the ascent. The first official balloon flight was a success.

First Manned Flight

This was the first experiment in which any living creature ascended with a balloon envelope. Another was now constructed which was 74 feet high and 48 feet in diameter. With this large balloon, M. Pllatre de Rozier volunteered to make an aerial voyage. The hot air balloon had an opening at the bottom end 15 feet in diameter. Around the opening was arranged and fastened a gallery of wicker work three feet broad, and around the outer edge of this was a balustrade of the same material three feet high, and around the lower circumference of the balloon, and immediately above the gallery platform, port-holes were worked in it for the purpose of introducing fuel to the burner unit.

The lower aperture of the balloon was suspended by chains to an iron brasier intended for the onboard heat source (fireplace). This meant the aeronaut could easily introduce fuel from the portholes as necessity required it. With this balloon, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier made several ascents to the height of two or three hundred feet with M. Girond de Vilette., while it was fastened with ropes of that length.

On the 21st of November, he, in company with the marquis d’Arlandes. concluded that they would make an aerial voyage. Accordingly, the balloon was inflated, and the gallery was supplied with fuel. M. Pilatre de Rozier and the marquis d’Arlandes stationed themselves on opposite sides of the basket.

At a given signal, the balloon was released from its moorings and left free in the air. It rose majestically amidst the shouts and applause of a delighted multitude until it reached a height of 3000 feet. The parties remained in the air for 25 minutes and encountered various currents of wind and changes in air temperature. During the hot air ballooning experience, there were several times in imminent danger by the balloon catching fire. The marquis became greatly agitated by this and desired to make a precipitate descent. Luckily M. Pilatre de Rozier was prepared and had brought along a sponge and bucket of water for an emergency. They raised and lowered their altitude multiple times in the atmosphere by regulating the fire in the brasier. They finally landed safely 5 miles from where they started after having sailed over a great portion of Paris.

The original documentary account of the first hot air balloon flight was witnessed and given by none other than Benjamin Franklin. Given at the chateau of La Muette at five in the afternoon. Signed, Duc de Polignac, Duc de Guisnes, Compte de Polastron, Compte de Vaudreuil, Benjamin Franklin, Faujus de St. Fond, Delisle, Leroy, of the Academy of Sciences.

“Today, November 21st, 1783, at the Chateau de la Muette, took place an experiment with the aerostatic machine of M. de Montgolfier. The sky was partly clouded; wind north-west. At eight minutes afternoon, a mortar gave notice that the machine was about to be filled. In eight minutes, notwithstanding the wind, it was ready to set off, the marquis d’Arlandes and M. Pilatre de Rozier being in the car. I was at first intended to retain the machine a while with the ropes, to judge what weight it would bear and see that all was right. But the wind prevented it from rising vertically, and directed it toward one of the garden walls; the roped made several rents in it, one being six feet long. It was brought down again, and in two hours was set right. Having been filled again, it set off at fifty-four minutes past one, carrying the same persons. It rose in the most majestic manner and when it was about 270 feet high, the intrepid voyagers took off their hats and saluted the spectators. No one could help feeling a mingled sentiment of fear and admiration. the voyagers were soon indistinguishable; but the machine, hovering on the horizon, and displaying the most beautiful figure, rose at least 3000 feet high, and remained visible all the time. It crossed the Seine, below the barrier of La Conference, valides, was in view of all of Paris. The voyagers, satisfied with their experiment, and not wishing to travel farther, agreed to descend; but seeing that the wind was carrying them upon the houses of the Rue de Seve, Faub. St. Germin, they preserved their presence of mind, increased the fire, and continued their course through the air till they crossed Paris. They then descended quietly on the plain beyond the New Boulevard, opposite the mill of Croulebarbe, without having felt the slightest inconvenience, and having in the car two-thirds of their fuel. They could then, if they had wished, have gone three times as far as they did go, which was 5000 toises, done in from twenty to twenty-five minutes. The machine was 75 feet hight and fifty six feet in diameter; it contained 60,000 cubic feet, and carried a weight of 1600-1700 pounds.”

Although the Chinese had experimented with an airborne lantern for thousands of years, there is no proof that a human ever made an ascent. The first aerial voyages in hot air balloons with authenticated proof of flying human beings are the Montgolfier balloons. All true hot air ballooning historians must point to the Montgolfier Balloon as the first practical and fully successful experiment in navigating the air.

At the next meeting of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Paris, the eminent body voted Stephen Montgolfier a gold medal for having made the most important discovery of the period. The Montgolfiers did not exactly understand the cause or nature of the material that gave ascensive power to their balloons. They attributed the balloons’ ascension not to a rarified state of air but to a peculiar gas that involved burning straw and wool. They termed these “certain materials.” It was the want for a better name that the name given was “Montgolfier gas.” It fooled a few members of the Royal Academy into believing that a new lighter-than-air gas other than hydrogen or helium had been discovered.

Gas Balloons

On Dec. 1, 1783, only 10 days after the first manned balloon flight, Jacques Alexandre César Charles and Nicholas Louis Robert launched a balloon using hydrogen gas for lift and sand for ballast. The hydrogen balloon covered a distance of 25 miles and allowed the pilots to stay in the air for 2.5 hours. Hydrogen had been developed by Henry Cavendish in 1776 by combining iron filings and sulphuric acid. 

In 1785, Pilatre de Rozier and Romain attempted to cross the English Channel in a combined balloon using hydrogen and heat. Unfortunately, this volatile mixture of highly flammable hydrogen with fire caused both men’s deaths thirty minutes after liftoff! In 1874 Jean Pierre Blanchard successfully flew across the English channel using hydrogen. 

Ballooning made major advances through scientists and because of war.  Gas balloons were used by the french as lookouts and were often called the spies of the sky. They were attached to 500ft tether lines and allowed soldiers to document their enemies’ locations and numbers.

First American Balloon Flight

The first manned balloon flight in America occurred on January 9, 1793. It was driven by hydrogen gas and piloted by John Jeffries and Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Blanchard had crossed the English Channel just one year earlier! President George Washington attended this “first free flight” and watched from the ground. The French military officer ascended 5800 feet from the Philadelphia Prison yard and safely landed the gas balloon on Gloucester County soil near New Jersey’s coastline.

Civil War and Balloons

It wasn’t until the civil war that the United States commissioned balloons and pilots to be used in war. Thadeus Lowe, who owned a commercial balloon ride company, noticed the clouds moving very quickly and believed that if he built a large enough balloon, he would be able to fly from America to England. Since he didn’t have enough money for the expedition, he chatted with President Abraham Lincoln about using his balloons to help the North win the Civil War. Thadeus Lowe inflated his balloon on the White House lawn and attached a 500ft tether line along with a telegraph line into the White House press office. Thadeus ascended his huge balloon to 500 feet and sent the first telegram from the air! Lincoln said,” We are going to win the war with balloons.” During the civil war, the 10 commissioned balloons called the balloon corps ascended over 3000 times. In 1862 Union General Fitz John Porter had an unexpected experience in a balloon. The tether lines broke, and he flew over enemy lines. Luckily the winds changed, and the balloon landed not far from where it had originally taken off. It was quite an adventure!

Japanese Fugo Balloons Used In WWII

During World WarII the Japanese developed bomb-carrying balloons designed to cross the Pacific and attack the United States. Called Fugo (wind ship) balloons, many reached the US, a few caused occasional fires and one killed six people in eastern Oregon in 1945.

The Fugo balloons were large, reaching up to 30 feet in diameter, and were filled with hydrogen. They carried incendiary and high explosive bombs, as well as anti-personnel bombs designed to release small bomblets over a wide area. The Japanese released the balloons from sites in Japan, and they were carried across the Pacific by the Jet Stream.

The balloons were designed to start fires in forests in the Pacific Northwest, as well as to kill and injure people. Some of the bomblets carried by the balloons exploded on impact, while others were designed to start fires. In total, it is estimated that 9,300 Fugo balloons were launched between November 1944 and April 1945.

Of the 9,300 balloons that were launched, it is believed that only a few hundred reached the continental United States. Most of the balloons landed in remote areas, and most bombs did not detonate. However, a few dozen fires were started by the balloons, and six people were killed by a bomb that exploded near Bly, Oregon, in May 1945.

Despite the small number of balloons that reached the US, the Fugo balloon campaign caused a great deal of anxiety and fear among the American population. The balloons were a reminder that the Japanese were willing and able to attack the United States, even though it was more than 2,000 miles from Japan. The fact that the balloons were able to cross the Pacific also showed that the jet stream could be used as a weapon, something that was of great concern to the US military.

The Fugo balloon campaign was just one of many attempts by the Japanese to attack the United States during World War II. Other campaigns included the launch of small boats filled with explosives, as well as attempts to use submarines to attack cities on the west coast. None of these campaigns were particularly successful, but they showed that the Japanese were willing to go to great lengths to try and defeat the United States.

The Fugo balloon campaign is an example of how, even amid a world war, nations still tried to find new and innovative ways to attack their enemies. The fact that the Japanese were willing to launch thousands of balloons across the Pacific shows how determined they were to win the war. The campaign also highlights the importance of technological innovation, as the Japanese were able to use the jet stream to their advantage. In the end, however, the campaign was not particularly successful, and it did not have a significant impact on the course of the war.

High Altitude Balloon Flights

A few high-altitude balloon flights in the 19th Century eventually led to modern scientific exploration of the upper atmosphere in the 1930s. As both military aircraft and passenger airplanes flew at ever higher altitudes, more needed to be learned about the conditions they encountered and how to provide oxygen systems and other crew and passenger support and safety systems.

Swiss physicist and inventor Auguste Piccard was the first to fly above 50,000 feet in 1931. At this altitude, the beginning of the stratosphere and essentially the transition from the earth’s atmosphere to space, a person would die in a few seconds without oxygen and a pressurized environment. Piccard invented a pressurized aluminum sphere that contained a system to supply oxygen to the crew under regular atmospheric pressure. Piccard invited his friend Max Cosyns to join him on this adventurous flight to the stratosphere in a hydrogen gas balloon. The balloon broke a new altitude record reaching a height of 52,000 feet.  It wasn’t until 1935 that Captain Albert Stevens and Orvil Anderson set a hard-to-beat record. The Explorer II (their helium balloon) reached a height of 13.7 miles above the earth. This record was held for 20 years. These early stratospheric flights paved the way for space travel.

The United States Navy launched a program in August 1934 to explore the stratosphere using flight balloons. This became known as the Explorer program and was initially funded by the National Geographic Society but eventually taken over by the Navy. Using Piccard’s designs, they constructed a pressurized gondola that enabled people to remain at high altitudes for long periods of time.

Army Captains Albert Stevens and Orvil Anderson reached a height of 72,395 feet in the balloon Explorer II in 1935 on a flight from the Stratobowl in South Dakota. This was the highest altitude reached by anyone before World War II. The information gathered and crew experience during these high-altitude balloon flights in the 1930s were put to good use during the war, improving both equipment and procedures. Combat planes routinely flew above 25,000 feet, and some were capable of attaining 40,000 feet or more.

Thin, mass-produced polyethylene sheeting became available in 1944 and replaced the much heavier and more costly cloth fabrics of earlier balloons. This created a renaissance in military and scientific ballooning

After World War II ended in 1945, amazing changes took place in all of aviation. Airplanes flew higher and faster, jet-powered airplanes and rockets were all the rage, and the world entered the space age.

The Explorer program made a number of important discoveries related to weather, cosmic radiation, and the upper atmosphere. Data and findings from these flights led to improved air safety regulations, aircraft design requirements, and even space exploration technology. The U.S., British, French, German, Japanese, and Soviet governments all sponsored stratosphere research flights, which helped lead to the development of space exploration and the eventual race to land a human on the moon.

Today, high-altitude balloons are still used for scientific research. Researchers use them to study particle physics, cosmic radiation, and atmospheric phenomena like thunderstorms and air pollution. Their success over the years has shown that the upper atmosphere can be explored and understood, opening the door for even more ambitious space exploration. High-altitude balloons provide a safe, reliable way of exploring the edge of outer space without ever leaving Earth’s atmosphere. They have been an invaluable tool in helping to unlock the mysteries of our universe.

The Reinvention of the Hot Air Balloon

Josef Emmer was a true master of the skies, known for his proficiency as both a balloonist and glider pilot. Born on April 14, 1912, he grew up alongside his schoolmate and fellow aviation enthusiast, Bruno Marek. Together, they made history by establishing a record that still stands today in the FAI archives. But Emmer’s greatest accomplishment was being the first person to use propane as a heat source for balloons, paving the way for future advancements in the field.

His two epic flights are still talked about today, particularly the one on October 7, 1935, with Bruno Marek. They flew a co-designed hot-air balloon with a capacity of 63,600 cubic feet, powered by a pressurized petroleum burner, reaching new heights and leaving onlookers in awe. But it was Emmer’s solo flight on September 25, 1939, that cemented his legacy in the annals of ballooning history. He designed and built the hot-air balloon himself, using pressurized petroleum fuel as the heat source. This flight was officially recognized by the FAI as the first record in a hot-air balloon, marking a significant milestone in the history of aviation.

Emmer’s passion and dedication to ballooning have inspired generations and will continue to be remembered as a testament to human ingenuity and the pursuit of adventure.

Following the end of World War II, ballooning enthusiasts were determined to keep the sport alive. Don Piccard, son of famous aeronauts Jean and Jeannette Piccard, made the first sport balloon flight in the United States after World War II. He combined a Japanese Fugo balloon with an old wicker basket, launching from a park in Minneapolis and landing in the countryside east of the city two hours later. This was an exciting development for the sport of ballooning!

The modern hot air balloon was invented out of the General Mills balloon program was funded by the US government (The Navy).  They believed that hot air balloons could be used as an extraction method for soldiers or a spy system with cameras disguised as weather balloons. Ed Yost and Don Piccard both worked on the Navy program at General Mills and went on to build the modern hot air balloon using a propane burner and nylon fabric.  Their first flight in the balloon that Ed Yost built was called the channel champ and flew over the English channel. Ed Yost helped build Raven Industries in the early 1960s, and Don Piccard went on to build Piccard balloons. 

Secret Ballooning Missions

People were spotting high-altitude scientific and military balloons in the 1940s and 1950s all the time, and many of them were reported as flying saucers! These balloons were funded by the CIA through the Navy and often contained expensive instruments that needed to be recovered, so they were tracked by airplanes. But if the chase plane lost track of the balloon, the crew would often find it by asking for and receiving the location of UFO reports.

Roswell Aliens Were Just Balloon Pilots

Ever heard about the Roswell incident? In 1947 one of the project’s from General Mills test balloons landed on remote Foster Ranch about 35 miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico, setting off the Roswell flying saucer craze that persists to this day. The flying saucer and alien part of this Roswell incident has been debunked many times, but the myth endures.

In November 1946, having great concern about Russia getting an atomic bomb, the Air Force contracted with researchers at New York University to develop high altitude constant level balloons to detect Russian nuclear explosions.

Called project Mogul, it was so secret that even the name Mogul was not known to the launch team until decades later. The task of project Mogul was to develop these balloons, and then equip them with microphones in order to detect Russian nuclear explosions.

Among the NYU balloon team were two graduate students, project engineer Charles B. Moore, and James Richard Smith, a future founder of Raven.

In June 1947, members of the NYU balloon team, including Moore and Smith, launched several balloon trains from Alamagordo Army Air Field in New Mexico. These trains included standard weather balloons, as polyethylene balloons were still a few months away from being available. Radar reflectors, ballast and a dummy payload were included in the first of these balloon trains. The early flights were designed to test out balloon systems and radar tracking, prior to the introduction of polyethylene balloons with microphone payloads.

On June 4, 1947, flight #4 was launched. The ground based tracking radar lost the balloon, and the B-17 tracking aircraft lost telemetry contact, and so broke off the chase. However J.R. Smith visually tracked the balloon using a theodolite all the way to Arabela, just east of Capitan Peak, about 75 miles northeast of Alamagordo.

In 1995 Moore, then a scientist at the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research in Socorro, used the visual tracking data, detailed flight data from the balloon flights of June 5th and 6th, and weather data from US Weather Bureau winds aloft maps from June 1947 to recreate the probable course of flight #4, as shown on the map. Moore concluded that it was the balloon train from flight #4 came to ground on the Foster Ranch northwest of Roswell. The debris found and illustrated in local papers at the time are consistent with a balloon train with radar reflectors.

The classified aspect of project Mogul created confusion in reporting and statements issued by the Air Force to the press. This author is taking no sides in discussions of whether or not UFOs are real. The point here is that what was found on the Foster Ranch in July of 1947 was almost certainly some of the remains of NYU flight #4.

CIA Balloon Project Mongoose

One of the most exciting uses of balloons was the 1960 CIA attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba. The plan, code-named Operation Mongoose, involved launching balloons carrying explosives from Florida and having them drift over Cuba, where they would be detonated by remote control. The idea was that the explosions would create enough fear and chaos that the Cuban people would overthrow Castro. The plan was never carried out, as the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred 10 days after the plan was activated. It does, however, show the creative thinking that went into using balloons for covert operations.

Fidel Castro took over Cuba in January 1951 and installed a Communist regime. Cubans in the United States and wanted to recover their country so with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency a plan was hatched to retake the island in April 1961. President Kennedy once said that on his inauguration day Eisenhower warned him to avoid the hair-brained CIA scheme, but he ignored the suggestion. The invasion took place, and although the U.S. claimed no nationals were involved, U.S. Navy personnel told me that they took Cuban troops right up to the beach in landing craft.

We do know that on 17 September 1962 a secret memorandum was sent to General Lansdale on the subject of a request for approval to start a propaganda balloon campaign against Cuba as part of Operation Mongoose. Helium inflated balloons were to be flown from a foreign-flag ship located at least 10 miles from Cuba in international waters. To protect U.S. involvement the ship would be chartered by a Cuban exile that was well known and acceptable to the Cuban anti-Castro exiles. The sponsor would be put in touch with a “cleared” balloon facility and purchase the balloons. The sponsor would contact the Cuban Revolutionary Council and work with them. Anti-Castro groups could submit propaganda and if found acceptable by the CIA it would be accepted and disseminated by balloon.

Twenty balloons an hour could be launched from a station into the easterly trade winds, each carrying four pounds of leaflets (2,000 to 4,000 leaflets). Four such stations could launch 80 balloons an hour. It was estimated that 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 leaflets a month could be delivered. Another secret CIA document entitled Propaganda Action Plan in Support of Military Forces makes some of the following points:

On D-Day the propaganda campaign will enter its action stage. The two primary propaganda mechanisms will be radio and leaflet operations. In Nicaragua, the operations base for Brigade 2506, 11 million brochures were ready to be dropped over Cuban territory…By the time of the invasion, a total of 12 million pounds of leaflets had been dropped on Cuba. The CIA estimates for the cost of propaganda operations was $500,000 in fiscal year 1960 and $1,200,000 in fiscal year 1961. During the Bay of Pigs the liberation movement used fish symbols. Later, the CIA decided to use the term “worm”
since Castro called all anti-revolutionaries “worms.” A whole propaganda campaign was planned around Gusano Libre (Free Worm) leaflets flown over Cuba by helium balloons from ships sailing close to the island. The CIA produced thousands of leaflets showing a small worm taking part in various sabotage acts. The balloon operation was to be called “Mongoose”.

Secret CIA Balloon Espionage

The US and USSR used balloons to carry out spying and espionage missions against each other. These missions involved launching a balloon from one country and allowing it to drift across the border into the other country, where it would be recovered by agents. The balloons would be carrying either cameras or listening devices, which would be used to gather intelligence. These were often quite dangerous, as the balloons would sometimes be shot down by anti-aircraft guns or intercepted by fighter jets. But that didn’t stop the brave men and women who participated in them! The top-secret New York University program Project Mogul, designed to place microphones high in the upper atmosphere under balloons to detect Soviet nuclear explosions, was not a great success. It was too expensive, and better ways were soon found. In 1955, a secret CIA project had a balloon launched from a submarine fly over a Russian island to take photos at 18k feet and was recovered by another submarine.

Advances In Ballooning Technology

Technology in ballooning has made huge advances in the last 20 years. Balloon travel to a specific long-distance location still isn’t available, but, the fabric being used is now airtight, the propane burners are extremely powerful, and the advances in accessible weather information make ballooning very safe. You can learn the specifics about how hot air balloons work on this post. Get ready to nerd out!

Modern Ballooning Technology

Balloon manufacturers have added what is called a parachute vent for quickly cooling the envelope of the balloon. The parachute vent allows a balloon pilot to quickly dump hot air on landing allowing for the basket of the balloon not to be pulled by the momentum of the envelope. The vent can also be used if a balloon pilot over burns causing the hot air balloon to slow its ascent.

Balloon Burners

Hot air balloon manufacturers have built powerful, fuel-efficient propane burners and larger fuel tanks. The original propane burners in the 1960s released 2-3 million BTU. New burners in 2022 release 30 million BTU with each pull. The hot air balloon burners also now have pilot lights that stay lit and ignitors on the burners themselves.

Hot Air Balloon Fabric

The hot air balloon fabric was originally made out of paper or silk. Modern-day hot air balloons use nylon fabric with a special coating that helps the fabric be airtight.

Cost Of Hot Air Balloons

The cost of hot air balloons has seen a significant increase since their early days in the 1960s. Initially, these majestic flying machines could be acquired for just a few thousand dollars, making them a relatively accessible luxury for enthusiasts and adventurers of the time. However, over the decades, advancements in technology, safety features, and materials have contributed to a substantial rise in prices. As of 2024, the average cost of a new hot air balloon system, which includes the envelope, basket, burners, and necessary instruments, hovers around $50,000. This price can vary based on the size of the balloon, the quality of materials used, and the complexity of the design. The increase reflects not just inflation but also the evolution of the balloons into more sophisticated and safer aircraft, catering to a market that demands high standards for recreational and commercial ballooning experiences.

Hot Air Balloon Flights

These days you can see hot air balloons flying all over the world. You can purchase a ride and fly in Napa Valley over the grapevines, in front of Mt. Rainier (an active volcano) in Seattle, fly over the swiss alps, and even join 550 balloons at the Alburquerque balloon festival. Currently, there are around 40 pilots in the world that actively fly hydrogen and over 4000 hot air balloon pilots that use propane burners and the Montgolfier method.

Famous and Noteworthy Balloon Pilots

If you’d like to read some more fascinating ballooning adventures, be sure to check out Finding My Virginity by Sir Richard Branson. He has multiple hot air ballooning and hybrid balloon records for flying across the Pacific, Atlantic, along with his attempts to fly around the world. His transatlantic flight landed him a world record. John Wise’s book through the air from 1783 is a culmination of stories of his 40 years of ballooning adventures.  Also, check out Fedor Konyukhov who completed the fastest solo hot air balloon flight around the world. His 33,000km journey won the record-breaking time in the Guinness world record book –  just under 11 days.

Special Shape Balloons

Special Shape Hot Air Balloons have been around since the 70s, and today is the most unique way to get awareness for your brand. This Special Shape page talks all about these very neat balloons!

Additional FAQs About Ballooning History

 When was hot air ballooning invented?  

The hot air balloon was invented in 1783 by Joeseph and Stephen Montgolfier. They built a hot air balloon out of paper which Pilatre De Rozier flew over Paris. Modern-day hot air ballooning using a controlled propane burner and nylon fabric was invented in 1961 by Ed Yost at Raven Industries.

What fuel did the first hot air balloon use?

The first hot air balloon developed by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783 used “Montgolfier Gas” to heat the air temperature in the balloon. The balloon fuel for the fire was a combination of straw and wool. At the time, the Montgolfiers did not know the heat from the fire was causing the hot air balloon to ascend.

Who was the first to fly in a hot air balloon?

The first passengers to fly in a hot air balloon were a rooster, a duck, and a sheep. The hot air balloon lifted them over 1000ft and slowly descended to the ground. The first people to fly in a balloon were Pilatre De Rozier and Marquis d’Arlandes. They spent 25 minutes in the sky in the hot air balloon and crossed over Paris. The first to fly a modern-day hot air balloon was Josef Emmer in Austria in 1935.

How do you steer a hot air balloon?

Hot air balloons do not have a steering wheel and instead use the wind at different altitudes in order to control or steer the hot air balloon horizontally.

Were hot air balloons used in Space?

Yes! Hot air balloons were the first craft to go to the stratosphere!

How high do hot air balloons fly?

Hot air balloons can reach incredible heights! Hot air balloons are limited by airspace, the size of the balloon being used, and the weight onboard. Hot air balloons typically fly under 5000 feet, however many balloon pilots have flown over 30,000 feet.

Chemistry and physics teachers find ballooning fascinating

Want a hot air balloon historian and active balloon pilot to chat with your class about hot air balloons? the first hot air balloon flight, and interesting gas ballooning history? We have multiple pilots at Seattle Ballooning that would be happy to Zoom with your class. Who knows, maybe we’ll inspire some new Aeronauts!

What Is The Most Luxury Multi-Day Tour In The US?

Seattle Ballooning provides exclusive luxury hot air balloon tours across the state of Washington. These tours start at $12k per person and include aged wine, exquisite food, and true adventure.

History Of Hot Air Balloon Advertising

Hot air balloon Advertising has been around since the mid-1960s. Almost every major brand has had a hot air balloon as part of its marketing. You can learn all about the famous billionaires and companies that have relied on balloons to get the word out about their companies!

So what is a UFO?

UFOs are strange and mysterious phenomena that spark curiosity among all in the eyes of the general public. Descriptions include egg shapes, flying saucers, and even just bright lights. But what are they? Are they real or not? Discussions about this topic can be found everywhere throughout society – on television shows, newspaper articles, books, etc. There have always been many arguments pro-and contra of their existence creating a divide of people into believers or non-believers. Many don’t take UFO sightings seriously when there’s no concrete evidence to back up these claims. However, in the last 60 years technological innovations have given people the ability to record and share their sightings.

What we know so far is also limited given how many years have passed since the first reported sighting and the official UFO reporting database not being created until 2019. The recent confirmation by the Air Force gave UFOs a new name, UAP’s (unidentified aerial phenomena). People might think many things are UFOs, including birds, hot air balloons, or even secret military aircraft.

History of mistaken identity

Ever since the first hot air balloon flight, there has been a long history of mistaken identity. The Montgolfier brothers experimented with paper and silk to create the first balloon. Observing that hot air would rise inside the envelope, making the balloon fly as they burned straw or wool beneath it. Later, the brothers had their first balloon and strapped a sheep, chicken, and duck to the base.

In 10 minutes, the flaming balloon flew over two miles, crash landing into a farmers’ field. Back then, as the farmers watched this burning object fall from the sky on their property, the only reasonable explanation was that a dragon was attacking them. Completely slaying this dragon with pitchforks, the first hot air balloon flight was a success, but the balloon did not survive.

What are balloons used for today?

Balloons became a widely used technology among the scientific community and governments abroad. Meteorologists used balloons to learn more about the weather while topographers gained an advantage by creating more accurate maps. Militaries even formed balloon squadrons to fly during battle, observing the fight or dropping ordinances on the enemy. Hot air balloons are still used today for marketing, tours, and just for fun by recreational pilots. Seattle Ballooning offers shared and private flights daily and recently even rescued a lost couple from the Green River in Washington State.

First reported UFO sighting – Rosewell, New Mexico

The Roswell Incident in 1947 is one of the most famous and potentially significant UFO sightings. Rancher William “Mac” Brazel discovered mysterious metal rods in his New Mexico pasture. He reported it to U.S. Air Force officials nearby, who quickly came and retrieved crash debris. Offering little to no explanation for what was found, officially, the military said the debris came from a downed weather balloon. Kicking off the modern UFO era, balloons found themselves at the core of a never-ending mistaken identity crisis with unidentified flying objects.

A small city in New Mexico, Rosewell draws in many tourists yearly looking to learn more about UFOs. The home to the first major UFO report and many more to come in the area, why was Rosewell a hotbed for individuals seeing things? Unfortunately, for the UFO believers, the Army was not lying, and the contents found were from a balloon. The true meaning of why weather balloons were flying out there was still unclear though raising suspicions of nearby residents as to what was going on.

Area 51

Established in 1955 out in the Nevada desert, Area 51 is an open secret of UFO sightings. The trend first started when a weather balloon was spotted nearby, leading to many more mistaken identity reports for balloons only. Every day, tours take a small group near this base where it’s said they have recovered UFOs from other parts of the world.

Area 51 is a secret military facility where new aircraft are tested and developed. This area is protected by extensive walls, fences, guns, and lots of security personnel to make sure no one sneaks into Area 51. Any unauthorized person that gets too close to Area 51 may be shot on sight!

Storm Area 51

On July 1st, 2019 a Facebook event was created titled “Storm Area 51 Raid”. Scheduled for September 20th, 2019, the event rose to popularity after a video of two men claiming that they would storm the base and break it open. On the days leading up to the raid more than 40,000 people arrived in the region leading to the United States Military issuing a statement. In short government officials said, “Area 51 is a United States Military training facility and the U.S. Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets”. While the event drew large crowds, the raid did not happen and two men were arrested for trespassing.

Richard Branson’s UFO hot air balloon

British tycoon Richard Branson found his love for flying hot air balloons in the mid-1980s. Paired with his witty sense of humor, he pulled off the best April fools joke in 1989 by flying a hot air balloon shaped like a flying saucer. Flying at first light, Branson’s metallic hot air balloon raised alarms among three police departments and even had the Army on standby. Cars stopped on the freeway, and hundreds of emergency calls came in about the mysterious lights. Upon landing, Branson hired a man to dress as an alien and run off the balloon to meet the police. The hot air balloon was the perfect vehicle for Branson to pull off a joke. Hot air balloons like his have often been mistaken as UFOs. They are responsible for many of our modern-day sightings.

Years of denial came to an end when the United States Air Force accepted Unidentified Flying Objects. Hot air balloons will still have to deal with many cases of mistaken identity, possibly even more now. If you want to join the madness, one of the best ways to do it is to take a flight with Seattle ballooning and see for yourself. Some may never know if they saw a UFO or hot air balloon, but at least we have some answers now.

Thaddeus Lowe, a private hot air balloon pilot in 1861, launched his hot air balloon from the front lawn of The White House. He ran a telegraph wire across the lawn from his hot air balloon directly into The White House. In the service room of The White House, an extremely excited Morse Code operator awaited a message from aloft. Sent from 500 ft above The White House, the following message caused president Lincoln to form the Balloon Corps, and named Thaddeus Lowe its Chief Aeronaut.

Balloon Enterprise. Washington, D.C. 16 June 1861

To President United States: This point of observation commands an area nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city with its girdle of encampments presents a superb scene. I have pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station and in acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country. T.S.C. Lowe”

Within a month of this momentous demonstration, President Lincoln called for the Balloon Corps to build 80 gas balloons. Lowe’s gas balloons would go on to ascend over 3000 times during the Civil War, giving generals pertinent surveillance information about Confederate whereabouts.

If you would like to learn more about Lincoln’s Hot Air Balloon Airforce, Check out this great video from the Smithsonian.

In 1861, most balloons were filled with some type of lighter-than-air gas. Lowe actually created and patented his own portable gas generators to fill Civil War balloons. Here in Seattle, Seattle Ballooning mainly uses our balloons for luxury hot air balloon rides, although if we are ever called up, we will be the first to join the balloon corps. Hope you enjoyed this rare piece of little known balloon history!

At 6pm in old town Winthrop, the sidewalks were packed full of spectators. Fans were roaring, and three hot air balloons were inflating to give a hot air balloon light show to the gathered crowd. This year’s hot air balloon glow in Winthrop was very special. Three balloons were inflated, and our good friend Jay, inflated one of the most interesting balloons anyone in the pacific balloon community had ever seen.

The 1972 hot air balloon was engineered by Don Picard, the father of modern day hot air ballooning. It also happened to be the 19th modern hot air balloon ever created in the US, with the N number showing N19. The basket was custom built for a very short man no taller than 5′ 2″. Jay is over 6′ tall which means the top of the basket comes up just above his knee.

For 25 years this balloon sat in a cold storage unit, and since 1972 has only been used 7 or 8 times. This specific balloon is also the only diamond weave balloon that Don Picard ever built.

Another pilot named Bill also from Seattle, inflated his custom home built experimental cloud hopper. Imagine a corvette seat with a 20 gallon propane tank under the seat, and a burner just above your head. This balloon was built for the true solo adventurer.

If you’re interested in joining us next year in Winthrop for a flight, you’ll want to send us an email, or give us a call quickly. Our Friday, Saturday, and Sunday flights for 2017 will fill up very quickly. www.seattleballooning.com