NASA Balloon Launch Attempt Postponed Again

April 21

NASA Balloon Launch Attempt Postponed Due to High Surface Winds

NASA postponed the sixth launch attempt of its super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wanaka, New Zealand, at 6:45 a.m. Friday, April 21 (New Zealand time) due to high surface winds not conducive for launch.

"The wind speed was below our limit for a time, but unfortunately picked back up at a speed that would not support a launch today," said Gabe Garde, campaign mission manager. "We were close once again in our processing, but the winds didn’t set up in the end."

NASA will continue to assess the weather daily to determine if conditions will support a launch attempt; NASA will issue its next launch update when weather conditions are supportive of a launch attempt.

Latest Super Pressure Balloon Blog post here featuring Wanaka Airport Operations Manager Ralph Fegan: https://blogs.nasa.gov/superpressureballoon/2017/04/20/wanaka-airport-nz-nasas-mid-latitude-super-pressure-balloon-launch-site/

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