by Paul McBride
In April 1998 two aeronautical explorers; Colin Prescot 46 and Per Lindstrand 47; will attempt a balloon flight to the edge of space. Their target altitude is 130,000 feet, an incredible 24.6 miles above the earth's surface. This planned flight is one of the ultimate world records of human endeavor and once achieved by these two highly experienced pilots will rank forever in the annuals of man's endeavors to conquer and explore his environment.
It will become a bench mark record by which all future attempts in a balloon will be measured; on a par in the world communities mind with the conquest of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing or Roger Bannister's; unbelievable at the time; four minute mile.
However the old saying, "That if it was easy - everyone would be doing it" is the key to understanding the massive dangers of this balloon trip right up to the edge of space.
The chilling reality is that the last three people involved in the last two world record attempts in the 1960's; 36 years ago; only one survived. In 1961 two American Naval Officers; Commander Malcolm Ross and Lieutenant-Commander Vic Prather of the United States Navy; reached 113,740 feet from the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Mexico. Prather drowned during the recovery.
Per Lindstrand when questioned on the dangers of their upcoming "near space flight" that the two men will face, replied calmly, "For Colin Prescott; who's an excellent balloon pilot by the way; and I after serious investigation of the attempts parameters believe the risk factor involved in the flight to be acceptable. After all in a sealed helium balloon going up is a piece of cake, however after reaching 130,000 feet its the descent where it could get a little hairy but with our specially developed ballast system functioning correctly we believe implicitly that we will survive."
Fortunately today in 1997 a great deal more is known about survival at high altitude than in the 1960's, over thirty years ago, and according to the current experts "Providing the correct training and procedures are strictly adhered to, the risks to human life will be minimal." Without space suits at 130,000 feet, blood would boil instantly and the human body would almost literally explode, causing instant death. Atmospheric pressure at 130,000 feet is 150 times less than at sea level. As Per Lindstrand says "The space suits are the key to our survival........... nothing can go wrong with the suits."
The suits individually weigh 50 pounds and cost $220,000 each and are made by Zwezda, the Russian company that designed the space suits for the Russian space program. Prescott and Lindstrand will be breathing pure oxygen throughout the flight whilst cocooned inside their space suits.
If the fabric should tear at up to 50,000 feet the wearer will have 7 seconds of consciousness before the loss of oxygen causes the blood to begin to boil. At higher levels - instant death.
In 1966 Nicholas Piantanida who was believed to have become the highest ballooning pilot in history, even though it was never officially recognized, may have been a victim of this phenomenon during his third attempt to set a parachute free fall record. Piantanida reached 123,500 in February on his second attempt but could not disconnect from his on board oxygen supply. His capsule was cut loose by ground control from the envelope and he safely landed in an Iowa farm field. On his third attempt, May 1, 1996, an emergency arose at 57,600 feet. A pressure leak, caused by unknown reasons, developed. 17 seconds later his capsule was cut loose by ground control. Piantanida never recovered from a coma and died on August 29.
Lindstrand and Prescott have agreed that should one of them die that the other will abort the mission. For this mission the men's space suits are the only items that do not have a back up facility. Under the supervision of the British Royal Air Force who are providing helicopters for accelerated freefall training for the two men, they will test replica space suits whilst honing their survival skills. Then in Moscow in a replica of the Russian cosmonauts space program they will undergo pressure chamber training followed by a sea survival training course to prepare them for their North Sea splashdown in true "Apollo coming home" style.
Should anything go wrong with the mission, ground control will immediately discharge the balloon and the open gondola will parachute home to Earth.
The balloon itself, currently under construction at Per Lindstrand's Research and Development plant in Oswestry, UK has to be extremely light and because of its very frailty according to the Engineers "It could theoretically malfunction and split at any stage." The skin of the balloon will be one quarter of the thickness of this page and will be three times the height of Nelson's column, in Trafalgar Square, London, UK an amazing 420 feet above the gondola. At 130,000 feet the target altitude, the balloon will have swollen to an incredible 275 times its original size at take off due to the lack of atmosphere at this rarefied height.
According to the meteorological boys, the sky will be midnight blue at 24 miles up, and Prescott and Lindstrand will clearly see the curvature of the Earth, Europe below them will be spread out like a huge relief map. The two men will have an unobstructed 250,000 square mile perspective. What an awesome experience.
The Director of the Oscar winning film Chariots of Fire, Huw Hudson will make a film of the balloon mission to the edge of space. The film footage will partly be achieved by floating a "piggy back" balloon away from the main gondola containing a broadcast quality television camera remotely controlled by one of the pilots. Because of the lack of atmosphere at 130,000 feet a gentle push will send the camera gliding on a line to the distance required to capture the entire scene. As well a Lear Jet will accompany the aviators to 50,000 feet. Remember British Airways Concorde flies at under 60,000 feet, whilst military aircraft a maximum of 85,000 feet.
At 130,000 feet Prescott and Lindstrand will be completely on their own. "All alone in the blue." As Colin Prescott says "We don't want to miss a thing, we want to send back the images of the century. We are attempting the forgotten feat : The original race into space." Huw Hudson believes that the unique footage of the flight to the edge of space will become one of his most dramatic films. No high altitude pictures of this sort have ever been possible before. This amazing attempt is sure to become one of the major news events of 1998 one that the co-ordinators believe "Will have lasting [public] recall and prolonged programming potential for years to come." Stay tuned.
To learn more about other balloon flights to the edge of space and the risks involved read, The Pre-Astronauts, Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space by Craig Ryan. See review in Balloon Life, August, 1995. Editor.
