Project Manhigh

Updated on Oct 26, 2023

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Project Manhigh was a pre–Space Age military project that took men in balloons to the middle layers of the stratosphere. It was conducted by the United States Air Force between 1955 and 1958.

History

The project started in December 1955 to study the effects of cosmic rays on humans. Three balloon flights to the stratosphere were made during the program:

Manhigh I to 29,500 m (96,784 feet), by Captain Joseph W. Kittinger on June 2, 1957

Manhigh II to 30,942 m (101,516 feet), by Major David G. Simons on August 19–20, 1957 for a 32-hour flight

Manhigh III to 29,900 m (98,097 feet), by Lieutenant Clifton M. McClure on October 8, 1958

With the pilot and the scientific payload, the Manhigh II gondola had a total mass of 748 kg (1,649 lb). At maximum altitude, the balloon expanded to a diameter of 60 m (200 ft) with a volume of over 85,000 m³ (111,000 cu yd).

A similar project in which a man in a gondola reached an altitude of 15,785 m (51,788 ft) was performed in 1931 by the Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard.

References

Project Manhigh Wikipedia

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