The day before (Thursday) we had predicted light easterly winds up to 1000 feet for the CREAM launch and scheduled a launch for 11AM Friday. We left McMurdo at 3AM and everything went very smoothly and we launched at 10:30AM. In this photo you will see why we have to predict winds up to 1000 feet. It is 1000 feet from the bottom of the payload to the top of the balloon. Only 5% of the balloon is inflated with helium. It expands as it goes to float in the stratosphere. This balloon took this 6,000 pound payload to 127,000 feet. The balloon has a fully inflated volume of 40,000,000 cubic feet. You could fit the Louisiana Superdome inside the balloon. There is a video of the launch on the CREAM website:
http://cosmicray.umd.edu/cream/cream-flights/flight-2008.html
Inflation nearly complete:
Balloon released from the spool:
Payload released, collar released from balloon. The collar prevents the inflated portion of the balloon from sailing too much after release from the spool:
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