On Saturday, July 12, KinzeMan boldly went where few mascots have gone before. That day a group of students from Williamsburg teamed with Kinze employees to conduct an epic balloon launch – sending KinzeMan and a capsule containing cameras and a GPS transponder soaring over 100,000 feet into the stratosphere.
The launch time: approximately 10:25 a.m. CST
The launch site: Kinze headquarters in Williamsburg
The (predicted) destination: Iowa City
The launch was flawless and KinzeMan took to the sky! The GPS transponder enabled us to follow his whereabouts via an online tracking system – albeit with a five-minute delay – and he traveled a path very similar to what we had predicted. With winds coming from the south and east, the balloon lifted and at a few thousand feet turned due east, as predicted, and traveled along Interstate-80 toward Iowa City.
At about 60,000 feet (35 minutes into the flight) we lost transmission. According to our calculations, the balloon ultimately reached an altitude of about 110,000 feet (though it could have gone higher since our payload was lighter than originally planned) at which point the balloon burst and KinzeMan and the capsule began a parachute-aided descent back to earth.
Finally, after a 54-minute signal blackout (which caused just a bit of anxiety and uncertainty), we received a message that the capsule had come to rest in a residential area in Iowa City. The chase van set off in search of KinzeMan. Where would he be? On top of a house? In a pool or pond? Or perhaps up in a tree?
Much to our relief, there he was sitting peacefully in the middle of a cul-de-sac. A somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, to be sure, though it saved us a potentially awkward discussion with the resident whose house we may have needed to climb up on in order to rescue KinzeMan.
In all, the flight took 2 hours, 11 minutes, 24 seconds. The ascent lasted 1 hour, 21 minutes and 14 seconds, at which point the balloon burst and the ensuing descent lasted 50 minutes, 10 seconds.
The cameras captured some fascinating high-definition video and high-resolution photos, including several high-altitude KinzeMan “selfies”. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
The team learned a great deal during the maiden launch, and we’re already looking forward to an encore flight some time in the fall. Until then, KinzeMan can rest easy.
This post was authored by Dustan Hahn, Senior Design Engineer at Kinze.