Launch Day

8:30 - 9:30 Students began working on the payload. They had to finish some of the construction for the time-lapsed camera. Students began putting the devices in the payload box. The inflation team began slowly inflating the balloon. Whenever there was enough helium for the balloon to float, they stopped the inflation and waited for information on how much helium to put in the balloon. They had to wait until the payload team was finished. The projection teams did their first projections and reported the possible landing sites. All of the projections were within 30 miles of Hanover, PA. The projection teams left their initial projections on their screen. They also had to wait on the payload teams to finish before making their final projections. While the balloon was being inflated, the launch site team measured the string that was to be used to connect the balloon to the payload. At some point, the string became entangled and they had to use new string.

The FAA told us to make two phone calls on launch day to different airports. They wanted us to call one of the airports one hour before the launch. So at 9:00, I made the first call. They were expecting the call and I just had to tell them that we were running about 20 minutes behind schedule.

9:30 - 10:00 When I inspected the payload box, there were several issues that needed attention. It was critical that we know the final mass of the payload. We took the cooler with all of the devices and placed everything on the scales and measured the mass. This value was given to a student that was in charge of using the Balloon Burst Calculator". Using this calculator, the ascent rate, nozzle lift, descent rate, and the burst altitude was calculated. The mass of everything attached to the balloon was added to the nozzle lift. Masses totaling this amount were attached to the inflation nozzle. Helium was released into the balloon until the balloon was able to lift the masses off of the ground. The nozzle was carefully pulled about three inches from the end of the balloon nozzle. The balloon Tying Team used string to tie a tight knot above the end of the inflator nozzle. They covered the string with electrical tape. Then, the balloon inflator was pulled completely out of the balloon. Another knot was tied near the end of the balloon nozzle and covered with electrical tape. The balloon nozzle was folded and a third knot was tied. The last step in the tying process was to cover the entire end of the balloon with electrical tape. The payload train string was fed through the folded end of the balloon and knotted.