Pictures from JP Aerospace's Oct 6, 2001 Dark Sky Station 2 flight

Weather Balloon Recovery - Day 2: Saturday, Oct 6, 2001

After the DSS2 flight failed, we still had a recovery mission to receover our weather balloon. It had flown to 108,000 feet, so high that as it broke into daylight around 70,000 feet in altitude, we could see it like a star in the sky. It kept transmitting its position all the way up and all the way down. So we knew within a few hundred feet where it landed, near Rabbithole, Nevada.

These pictures were taken from numerous angles to help JPA members who weren't there to answer any questions that might come up later. The balloon fragments all over it were believed to be because the balloon flaps around like an octopus when it eventually bursts at high altitude. It enveloped the instrument frame and fell tumbling in near-vaccuum until reaching thicker air in the lower atmosphere.

On the ground, the radio was still transmitting its position and the red LEDs were still blinking.

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(1488x992 728K) (500x333 45K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 663K) (500x333 45K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 691K) (500x333 45K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 750K) (500x333 47K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 702K) (500x333 45K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 680K) (500x333 43K) 		Matt observes while Aubrey takes a picture to document the landing site.
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(1488x992 778K) (500x333 48K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 612K) (500x333 41K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 576K) (500x333 41K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site. The red LEDs were still blinking after their flight to 108,000' (21 miles) in altitude and streamer descent.
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(1488x992 776K) (500x333 47K) 		One of various angles of the weather balloon instrument package at its landing site.
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(1488x992 609K) (500x333 35K) 		Recovery team group photo - left to right: Steve Traugott KG6HDQ, Joyce Traugott KG6IAN (in front of Steve), Gary Haussmann KG6CGA, Aubrey Powell, Sean Lynch KG6CVV, Matt Kluft (in front of Sean), Craig, Darrell [I need to get Craig's and Darrell's last names]
Recovery Team members on site but not shown in picture: Al Differ KF6FPX (in truck monitoring radio to base camp), Ian Kluft KO6YQ (taking the photo)
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(1488x992 858K) (500x333 56K) 		The package fell 21 miles from the edge of space and landed on this rabbit's hole. Understandably, the rabbit was nowhere to be found. (That's an interesting coincidence since it was at a place on the map called "Rabbithole", apparently the name of a long-abandoned settlement.)
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(1488x992 474K) (500x333 26K) 		We took one more photo to show the terrain. People in the photo are from left to right: Al, Joyce, Craig (behind Joyce), Gary, Darrell (behind Gary), Matt and Aubrey.

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Copyright (c) 2001 Ian Kluft