Air Force Balloonist Shock on Test Run 8-13-58 Fine Grain Cut story Print

An outtake from a news report featuring Air Force members testing a hot air balloon, right before it lifts for take-off. The last few seconds of the film depict the balloon floating in the sky, with a man inside.; This film features one of the many test runs the Air Force performed for Project Manhigh (1955-1958). These tests were performed at military bases in Minnesota, as well as New Mexico. The project was a pre-space age military endeavor that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the stratosphere. Project Manhigh was funded by the government as an aero-medical research program, and was viewed as a precursor to Project Excelsior (1959-1960), which helped push forward the research necessary to set the stage for space exploration.