Project Manhigh was a pre-

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and co ...

military project that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

, funded as an aero-medical research program, though seen by its designers as a stepping stone to space. It was conducted by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

between 1955 and 1958.

History

The project started in December 1955 to study the effects of

cosmic rays Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar ...

on humans. Three balloon flights to the

were made during the program: * Manhigh I to , by

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Joseph W. Kittinger on June 2, 1957. The balloon was launched from South St. Paul Airport and the flight was cut short due to one of the capsule's valves being installed backwards which vented the oxygen supply outside, but not before reaching a record altitude of 96,784 feet. * Manhigh II to , by

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

David G. Simons on August 19–20, 1957, launched from Portsmouth Mine in Crosby, Minnesota, for a 32-hour flight that included a set of 25 experiments and observations, and earned Simons a ''Life'' magazine cover spot. With the pilot and the scientific payload, the Manhigh II gondola had a total mass of . At maximum altitude, the balloon expanded to a diameter of with a volume of over . * Manhigh III to , by

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Clifton M. McClure on October 8, 1958Clifton McClure; Rode Balloon to Edge of Space
/ref> Candidates for the Manhigh project were put through a series of physical and psychological tests that became the standard for qualifying astronauts for the

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

, America's first crewed orbital space program. Similar projects in which men in a gondola reached near-space altitudes were performed by Swiss physicist

Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere and became the first person to ...

and Paul Kipfer, reaching in 1931, USSR-1 piloted by Georgy Prokofiev reaching in 1933, and

Osoaviakhim-1 Osoaviakhim-1 was a Highest manned balloon flight, record-setting, hydrogen-filled Soviet Union, Soviet high-altitude balloon, high-altitude Balloon (aircraft), balloon designed to seat a crew of three and perform scientific studies of the Earth's ...

reaching in 1934 as well as

Explorer II ''Explorer II'' was a crewed U.S. high-altitude balloon that was launched on November 11, 1935, and reached a record altitude of . Launched at 8:00 am from the Stratobowl in South Dakota, the helium balloon carried a two-man crew consisting of ...

reaching in 1935.

References

External links

* Details o
Manhigh I
an

at stratocat.com.ar
Space Men
(''

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

'' episode) Ballooning Space research Human subject research in the United States Military projects of the United States

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links