A Day in the Park    November 17, 2007        

The Tandem airship uses the largest latex balloons ever made.  We design the launch bags and the stabilized rings
based on estimated sizes.  Now that the balloons have arrived it's time for a test fit.  This wasn't a real launch. It was a
shake down for the larger balloon bag and a training exercise for the team.  A film crew doing a show on the atmosphere
came over from England to spend that day with us in the park.

          
The first step is laying out tarps and staking down the launch bag.                                                                            Explaining the ring.

       
  Just a little helium to position everything.                                                   My moment of fame.       National Geographic filming a balloon crew in the wild.

This is a really big balloon!                       We'll be doing this twice for Tandem.
 
                                                                                                                          The launch!
      
Kevin is laying directly under the balloon getting great video.
    
Everything went prefect until the line to the line holding the balloon snapped. This caused the carbon nozzle to be
propelled a couple of hundred feet into the air right through the balloon.  We were very happy with everything about
the test except losing the balloon.
  

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