Project Manhigh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Project Manhigh along with Project Excelsior was a pre space-age military project that brought men in balloons to the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere.
The project started in December of 1955 to study the effects of cosmic rays on humans. Three balloon flights to the edge of space were made during the program:
- Manhigh 1 to 29,500 m (96,784 feet), by Captain Joseph W. Kittinger II (1928- ) on June 02, 1957
- Manhigh 2 to 30,900 m (101,516 feet), by Major David Simons on August 19-20, 1957 for a 32-hour flight
- Manhigh 3 to 29,900 m (98,097 feet), by Lieutenant Clifton McClure on October 08, 1958
With the pilot and the scientific payload the Manhigh 2 gondola had a mass total of 748 kg (1,600 lbs). At maximum altitude, the balloon expanded to a diameter of 60 m (200 feet) with a volume of over 85,000 cubic meters.
[edit] References
- Craig Ryan, The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space, Naval Institute Press, 1995 (ISBN 1-55750-732-5).
