+ 1970 News Releases (7.6 Mb PDF file) - NASA

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_- TIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
.NNED SPACECRAFT
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493-5111 September 22, 1970
MaC 70-1 D3
HOUSTON, TEXAS--The balloon borne scientific payload which
crash landed in a Canadian field over the weekend suffered little
if any damage.
Scientists at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center said the payload
'miraculously e_e through it in e_cellent condition." The
1_200 pound instrument ]package landed in a flax field 20 miles west
of Regina_ Canada, after being separated from its 60e-foot long
balloon.
The balloon and scientific package drifted for more thmn 347
hours, covering a distance of about 47800 miles -- 1,700 over the
Pacific Ocean -- following its launch from Minneapolis_ Minnesota
on September 4. The experiment was scheduled to be concluded 48 hours
after launch_ however_ a faulty descent system kept the balloon aloft
for more than two weeks.
The project_ part of MSC's investigations cf cosmic rays, is the
Cosmic Ray Emulsion Plastic Experiment. The experiment consisted of
240 square feet of detectors housed in 20 by 12 foot package.
The detectors -- _,lastie traek_ nuclear emulsion_ and fast-film
Cernekov -- are designad to record the intensity and direction of
transiren primary cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere (130_000 feet
altitude). The balloon and payload was launched by the Winzen Research
Corporation in cooperation with the National Center for Atmospheric
Research
(NCAR).
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