NASA Releases Report On April Balloon Mishap In Australia

You might recall back in April I mentioned that a group of scientists in Australia had tried to launch a balloon for NASA that was to launch into the upper atmosphere. That balloon broke free of its launch rig and destroyed a car and the payload attached to the balloon and made for one scary yet oddly funny video to watch.

NASA has issued the report on the investigation into the mishap and the press release at least offers no real insight into what happened to cause the accident. The PR for the report only says what didn't go wrong. According to NASA, the balloon was carrying a gamma-ray telescope that belonged to the University of California at Berkley dubbed the Nuclear Compton Telescope and it was partially destroyed in the accident.

According to NASA, the investigation has determined that the weather conditions were acceptable for launch and that there were no technical problems with the vehicle or the payload. NASA does state that during the investigation it found that there were few procedures for launching the balloon documented and apparently, no one considered the launch phase to be a potential hazard. The bulk of the tests performed centered on the crane the balloon was launched from.