Manhigh

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Manhigh II Gondola

Manhigh was the name of a series of manned balloon ascents at heights of 30 kilometers, which was initiated by the US military from 1955 .

The aim of the flights at an altitude in which more than 99 percent of the earth's atmosphere was below you was to collect scientific data on the behavior of a balloon at this altitude and the effect of cosmic rays on humans. The program consisted of three manned and other unmanned flights:

  • Manhigh I on June 2, 1957 by Captain Joseph Kittinger at 29,500 meters
  • Manhigh II on August 19 and 20, 1957 by Major David Simons at 30,900 meters
  • Manhigh III on October 8, 1958 by Lieutenant Clifton McClure at 29,900 meters

The group consisting of polyethylene existing helium balloon had a diameter of 60 meters and a volume of 85,000 cubic meters. The hermetically sealed gondola weighed 747 kilograms.

Most of the flights were made from Holloman Air Force Base .

Manhigh I

After a few successful test flights with mice, hamsters and later also monkeys, it was decided to undertake a manned balloon flight at around 30,000 meters.

Joseph Kittinger , who took off in the early morning of June 2, 1957, was selected as the test pilot . Despite some technical difficulties - due to the lack of money, the nacelle could not be tested in a pressure chamber before it was used at Manhigh I, so that an incorrectly installed valve remained undetected - the balloon with Kittinger reached the planned height of 29,500 meters. He then let helium escape from the balloon again, so that it landed safely again after a few hours of descent.

Manhigh II

The next test flight took off in the early morning of August 19, 1957, the goal being that David Simons - he was selected for this flight - should endure 24 hours within 30 kilometers. At times, however, the company was endangered by a bad weather front approaching the area. Simons was several kilometers above the thunderstorm with his balloon, but the cloud cover prevented the heat radiation from the earth from escaping into space. Therefore, the air and thus also the helium in Simon's balloon became cooler, so that it sank down into the storm front. Simons managed to stay above the height of the balloon during the night, so that it did not return to earth unharmed until after 32 hours.
Its flight was used as proof that a human can survive in space for long periods of time, despite cosmic rays .

Manhigh III

The last flight within the Manhigh program was Manhigh III. Clifton McClure climbed to 29,900 meters and landed again unscathed.

See also

Movie

  • The first space travelers. Documentation, 2007, 44 minutes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ISpySpace: Project Manhigh , (English)
  2. ↑ The first spacemen. Youtube, accessed on October 4, 2011 (video stream of the entire documentation on Youtube).