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MICROFILM CENTER* INC. P., 0. BOX 45«6DALLAS * TX. 75235'/lt;. •BEFORE IT CRASHED to earth Monday afternoon In Belgium. David Skinner of Gilmer joined his fatherin n pasture owned by Loy Skinner, right, this metal in examining the unexpected balloon visitor.—Mirrordisc held a 1-ton payload of scientific instruments that Photo,had been doing high altitude research for a universitySpace Balloon Plops Down HereBY SARAH GREENEScientists flying over Upshur County Monday afternoon in a chase plane to track the descent of a high-altitude balloon had bad luck.They gave a radio signal to release a 1-ton payload of scientific instruments by parachute, then watched it splash down in Lake o’ the Pines. The deflated balloon landed in Loy Skinner’s crimson clover pasture on Hwy, 155 just west of Barnwell Mountain.Robert Kubara, director of the Palestine scientific balloon center that launched the balloon, told The Mirror Tuesday he wished it had been the other way around. He said a recovery team had gone out from Pop’s Landing to try to retrieve the instrument package, which hadbeen sent up to do solar research for the University of Liege in Belgium. sWhen the big ballooncrashed to earth about 5:30 p.m. Monday it created quite a stir.Paul Pruett of 2908 Grafton, Dallas was driving northeast on Hwy. 155 when it crossed his path and plopped into the pasture in a big wad.“I didn’t see that, did I?” he asked his wife. But she’d seen it too. They called Sheriff Doyle Johnson’s office, which notified federal authorities. Tuesday, Deputy Lee Standefer learned that the object was more than just a big weather balloon, as some had first thought.A stainless steel disc more than three feet across still had frost from the 100,000 foot altitude the balloon hadreached. And though the balloon material itself seemed no thicker than Saran wrap, there was so much of it that it made a heavy package. Loy Skinner and his son, David, tried to drag it out of the pasture with a pickup Monday evening but it wouldn't budge.The Palestine balloon center is an operating arm of the National Center for Amospheric Research of Boulder, Colo. And it cooperates with both universities and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in doing research by both high-altitude balloon and satellite.Kubara said the balloon had been launched Monday morning and after it reached nearly 100,000 feet, it started to descend. So the trackers routinely made the decision to separate the payload. While it was inflated it had a diameter of 450 feet, but by the time the balloon streaked to earth it was well compressed.Actually, said Kubara, it was one of the center’s smaller balloons, containing 4,000,000 cubic feet.Mrs. J. A. Rash called TheMirror Tuesday and said she’d seen what she thought was a similar balloon early Tuesday morning. And Kubara said she probably did. That would have been a 20,000,000-eubic foot balloon that by noon Tuesday was hovering at 138,000 feet in the Lufkin area, he said.Kubara said an engineer from North Dakota was due to arrive Wednesday to examine scientific data collected before the balloon's | journey ended in Loy Skin-i ner’s pasture,ilmttVOL. 99, NO. 20 GILMER, UPSHUR COUNTY. TEXASTHURSDAY, MAY 13, 19763 SECTIONS
Newspaper Details
Gilmer Mirror
Gilmer, Texas, US
Thu, May 13, 1976
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Luis P.
AR 10 Dec 2021
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