LOL
Reminds me of when the USofA tried this **same exact stunt** to spy on the Soviet Union. One of these balloons crashed at Roswell, NM.
Didn’t work worth a...poop then either.
>>Reminds me of when the USofA tried this **same exact stunt** to spy on the Soviet Union.
Stratospheric balloons were a well developed technology by 1960. A very thin plastic balloon was inflated with a little helium on the ground. As the balloon rose, the bubble expanded to fill a million cubic foot “sphere” at 120,000 feet.
One of the design challenges was to design the shape so that when it was fully inflated at altitude there would be minimal tension on the seams connecting the strips of plastic that went from the top to the bottom.
There were a couple of companies in the Upper Midwest involved in the manufacture and flying of balloons.
Raven Industries still exists.
“Established in 1956 to make high-altitude balloons, Raven was launched by a group of General Mills employees, including General Mills High Altitude Research division employee Ed Yost.[2][3] Yost claimed to pick Sioux Falls for its favorable wind conditions.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Industries
Or when Japan tried it in WW2.