Cadet Balloon Launch Peaks at 104k Feet

Cadets of the Astronomy/BalloonSat Club had a successful launch from Minersville, PA. This was the first time the club had used hydrogen to fill the balloon (instead of helium) and the payload consisted of several different cadet experiments. The balloon was airborne for over four hours at a speed of 130 mph and max alt of around 104k ft. The club’s CIC, CDT Nolan Pearce ’22, took charge at the launch site. At the same time, the accompanying cadets, Porter Brookston ’24, Rathin Shah ’24, Raymond Triggs ’24, Austin Burns ’24, Joshua Reece ’23, Samuel Della-Santina ’25, Sean Huh ’24, Aaron Flowers ’22, Lakhan Singh ’23, Amar Rodgers ’25, Timothy Godsil ’25, George Zhang ’22, worked to get the project off the ground.