Stratobowl
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The Stratobowl is a compact natural depression within the limits of
Black Hills National Forest Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km²) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are locate ...
in
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
, south-west of
Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...
. In 1934–1935 it housed a stratospheric
balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...
launch site A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...
, initially known as Stratocamp, sponsored by the
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
and the
United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
. In 1956–1959 the site was reused by the U.S Navy
Project Strato-Lab Project Strato-Lab was a high-altitude manned balloon program sponsored by the United States Navy during the 1950s and early 1960s. The Strato-Lab program lifted the first Americans into the upper reaches of the stratosphere since World War II ...
.


''Explorer'' balloons

In 1934 the NGS and Air Corps co-sponsored the ''
Explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
'', a manned
high-altitude balloon High-altitude balloons are crewed or uncrewed balloons, usually filled with helium or hydrogen, that are released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between above sea level. In 2002, a balloon named BU60-1 reached a record altitude of . ...
capable of stratospheric flight. After the crash of the Soviet ''
Osoaviakhim-1 Osoaviakhim-1 was a Highest manned balloon flight, record-setting, hydrogen-filled Soviet Union, Soviet high-altitude balloon, high-altitude Balloon (aircraft), balloon designed to seat a crew of three and perform scientific studies of the Earth's ...
'' that nevertheless set an altitude record of , the sponsors redefined their primary objectives from record-setting to scientific research and tests of new navigation instruments. Air Corps Capt.
Albert William Stevens Albert William Stevens (March 13, 1886 – March 26, 1949) was an officer of the United States Army Air Corps, balloonist, and aerial photographer. Biography He was born on March 13, 1886 in Belfast, Maine. He graduated from the Univer ...
, Capt.
Orvil Arson Anderson Orvil Orson "Andy" Anderson (May 2, 1895 - August 24, 1965) was born in Springville, Utah. Anderson was an Army and Air Force officer, and a pioneer Army balloonist. In 1935 he and Albert William Stevens won the Mackay Trophy when they set a recor ...
and Maj.
William E. Kepner William Ellsworth Kepner (6 January 1893 in Miami, Indiana - 3 July 1982 in Orlando, Florida) was an officer in the United States Army, United States Army Air Corps and United States Air Force, and a pioneer balloon (aircraft), balloonist and airsh ...
were selected to fly the ''Explorer''.Ryan, p. 52 Kepner and Anderson, experienced balloonists, were in charge of locating a suitable launch site. According to Kepner, an ideal site would be a
crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...
or
canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
, a clear grassy valley encircled with rocky ridges high enough to shield the tall balloon from any wind. Ideally, the launch site it would have a high-voltage electric line, road and rail access, "and a
trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...
stream". Kepner and Anderson eventually located their dream canyon near
Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...
. City officials, fascinated by the expected publicity campaign, agreed to build a road and electric line.Ryan, p. 53 Anderson directed construction of a temporary village, housing over a 100 people, with the help of the
South Dakota National Guard The South Dakota National Guard is part of the South Dakota Department of Military & Veterans Affairs. It was created in 1862 as the State Militia. Its headquarters is located in Rapid City, South Dakota. It consists of the South Dakota Army Natio ...
and the army's
4th Cavalry Regiment The 4th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment, whose lineage is traced back to the mid-19th century. It was one of the most effective units of the Army against American Indians on the Texas frontier. Today, the regiment exis ...
. The central pad, in diameter, was cushioned with sawdust to protect the fabric of the balloon as it was spread on the ground prior to inflation. Preparation for flight was regularly reported by the national press. ''Explorer'' lifted off at 6:45, July 28, 1934, an event broadcast live over the radio and watched by 30,000 spectators on site. After seven hours in flight the pilots noticed holes torn in the bottom of the gas bag; quickly losing gas, the balloon plunged into an uncontrolled dive, its gas bag disintegrating as the balloon picked up vertical speed.Ryan, p. 54 At the remaining hydrogen exploded, sending the gondola in a free fall. According to Ryan, the pilots managed to bail out ''after'' the explosion, Kepner at an altitude of barely ; according to Shayler, they bailed out before the explosion; all three survived uninjured. Later it turned out that the ''Explorer'' missed a world record by .Ryan, p. 55 The accident was linked to folds in the balloon's fabric that put it under extreme stress as the balloon expanded in stratosphere.Shayler, p. 22 The NGS and Air Corps vowed to launch a new balloon in June 1935, but the new
helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...
-filled ''
Explorer II ''Explorer II'' was a manned U.S. high-altitude balloon that was launched on November 11, 1935, and reached a record altitude of . Launched at 8:00 am from the Stratobowl in South Dakota, the helium balloon carried a two-man crew consisting of ...
'' was not ready until November.Ryan, p. 58 Watched by 20,000 spectators, ''Explorer II'' lifted off at 8:00 November 11 and reached a new record height of .Shayler, p. 20 Anderson, Kepner, and Stevens became the first men to view the Earth's
curvature In mathematics, curvature is any of several strongly related concepts in geometry. Intuitively, the curvature is the amount by which a curve deviates from being a straight line, or a surface deviates from being a plane. For curves, the canonic ...
.Ryan, pp. 58–59


''Strato-Lab balloons''

In the 1950s,
Project Manhigh Project Manhigh was a pre-Space Age military project that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the stratosphere, funded as an aero-medical research program, though seen by its designers as a stepping stone to space. It was conducted by ...
and
Project Strato-Lab Project Strato-Lab was a high-altitude manned balloon program sponsored by the United States Navy during the 1950s and early 1960s. The Strato-Lab program lifted the first Americans into the upper reaches of the stratosphere since World War II ...
launches were made from the man-made crater of an iron mining pit near
Crosby, Minnesota Crosby is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,386 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. Crosby is adjacent to its twin city of Ironton, in the Cuyuna iron range. ...
, and, if weather allowed, from Fleming Field in South St. Paul, Minnesota. The Stratobowl was a backup location. There was one Stratobowl launch in 1956, three in 1958, and seven in 1959. On November 8, 1956, the ''Strato-Lab I'' gondola lifted Malcolm Ross and M. L. Lewis from the Stratobowl to a world altitude record for manned balloon flight of . The purpose of the flight was to gather meteorological, cosmic ray, and other scientific data necessary to improve safety at high altitudes. The most publicized flight, ''Strato-Lab IV'' piloted by Malcolm Ross and Charles B. Moore, lifted off from Stratobowl on November 28, 1959, reached an altitude of , and landed safely in
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
after 20 hours in the air. The purpose of the flight was to perform spectrographic analysis of the planet Venus with minimal interference from the Earth's atmosphere.Ryan, p. 233


Notes and references


Sources

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External links


History
from StratoCat.com.ar — The use of stratospheric balloons, the scientific research, the military field, and the aerospace activity {{Black Hills, South Dakota Ballooning Black Hills National Forest Landforms of Pennington County, South Dakota 1934 in South Dakota History of aviation