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Largest Balloon Ever

bitpusherdotorg writes "The UK's Colin Prescot and Andy Elson are in the midst of preparations for their upcoming attempt at setting a new world balloon altitude record in July. The pilots will make their ascent in the largest helium balloon ever constructed, on an open flight deck (!) with nothing but a pair of tailor made Russian spacesuits to keep them breathing. Why pay 20 million for a shuttle when you can just balloon it?"

30 comments

  1. Reminds me of something... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Oh, the humanity!

  2. Balloon nutsack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    The largest balloon ever is below my cock. Suck them, Taco! Propz to Goatse Man.

    1. Re:Balloon nutsack by MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM · · Score: -1

      How come is your nutsack so large? Are you pregnant?

  3. parachute record by Lepruhkawn · · Score: 3, Informative

    What I'd really like to see is one of these guys try and break Joe Kittinger's parachute jump record (102,500 feet). The film of him jumping off that balloon was wild.

    Official website link

    --
    Jesus saves....And takes 1/2 damage.
    1. Re:parachute record by jeboyer · · Score: 2, Informative

      It looks like there are a couple of people just crazy enough to try it!

      One claims to be planned for "March 2002". Seeing as we haven't heard either splat or cheer, I don't know what the current status is.

      The other appears to be currently scheduled for April 2003.

    2. Re:parachute record by zendaddy · · Score: 1

      Maybe they can take samples from the chemtrails and find out what is being sprayed in our skies...

    3. Re:parachute record by bleckywelcky · · Score: 1


      Know if there's somewhere online I could find the film for download? I would love to check that out.

  4. Watch that first step... by Hard_Code · · Score: 2

    ...it's a doozy...

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  5. Scientific breakthrough or helium daydream? by Chinese+Karma+Whore · · Score: -1

    Fate, chance, karma, whatever you wanna call it -- when Miss Fortune spreads her legs for you, you're already in over your head. Believe me, I know.

    Bunny LaFever looked like a dame with more curves and venom than Reggie Peeler's Land O' Snakes. But she wasn't a real dame. She was a she-devil. That golden bush of hers was nothing but a welcome mat to hell.

    But now I'm getting way ahead of myself. Bunny had a way of doing that to jerks like me. She twisted us inside out and turned our heads around so we couldn't think straight anymore. So lemme begin at the beginning ...

    Carnies got a word for a crooked game operator like me. They call me "Flattie" cuz I'll flat-out rob you and make you like it.

    My name's Randy Everhard and I've got a million ways to take your money. One of my personal favorites is the "hopper shot." It's tossing softballs into toilet seats, which you've seen on every midway in your life. I could gaff the joint to make it impossible to win.

    But where's the fun in that? I work it so any chucklehead can win all night long. Cuz once I've hooked a live one into thinking he can take me for a ride, that's when I nail him with the "build-up." Caught up in the excitement of winning game after game, the rube's built up to play twenty games at two bucks a pop. And the only prize he's going home with is a teddy bear that cost me three shekels per, wholesale. You do the math, Einstein.

    The problem with selling three-dollar plush for forty scoots is that the build-up only pays off if you've got a steady string of suckers. And that night was turning out to be a real larry. The Laff Riot carnival was a flattie's wet dream. The grab joints and flashy rides were a front for the real action: flat stories, alibi and percentage joints, crap tables, slot machines, fortune wheels.

    The show was running wide open. Everybody crooked and every joint gaffed and nobody doing a damn thing to stop it. I figured the cops were greased slicker 'n Liberace's asshole. It should've been like shooting trout in a barrel. Too bad nobody was taking my bait. I was up shit creek without a paddle to piss on.

    My first goddamn night with the show, and already I was itchy for a new angle.

    I can't remember which one of them I saw first: the blonde come-on dressed like she had an exhibitionist streak a mile wide or the square in the coke bottle glasses who was eyeballing her like she was nothing but something to look at. Of course, that Coppertone beauty really was something to look at. She was turning heads and raising dicks all over the place. But I didn't like him getting his eyes all over this piece of 100 percent corn-fed cocktease.

    She was stacked like a double-decker Ferris wheel with nipples that could cut glass. The red double-O's stenciled on her football jersey were stretched over humongous hooters. She looked like a shooting gallery, bursting at the seams. You couldn't miss those twin titty targets. I'm talking knockers so big you could still see them when she turned around. And believe you me, she was one woman who looked as good going as she did coming.

    She wore a pair of daring Daisy Dukes that were so short and tight her crotch sucked them in. The denim over her ass was thread-bare, blown out like a retread. And if that wasn't enough, she was doing a number on a grape Popsicle to make your peter wish it was frozen on a stick. That girl was one carnival ride I wanted to jump on quick, and I didn't care how many tickets it cost.

    In my racket, though, business comes before pleasure. And this looked like a golden opportunity to work the key scam. It's the oldest con in the carny book.

    I jumped the counter and made my way over to the chump with the steamed-up glasses. I was like, "Hot enough for ya? And I ain't talking about the weather, fella." At first he didn't buy it when I told him I was the "manager" of this fine talent. He just stood there mopping his brow with a hanky.

    "I don't fuck chickens and I don't shit feathers," I said, "and I wouldn't lie about a piece of ass like that, neither." I gave myself a hard-on feeding him the fast talk: screwing her would make a man think he died and gone to heaven, where the streets are paved with solid gold snatch.

    "She's a sight for sore eyes, ain't she? And if you think I'm giving you lip, you oughta see her go to town on a dick. Life-transforming, friend. Life-transforming." I pulled out an old key I kept for just such an occasion. Dangling it before his bug eyes, I spieled how it was the key to her room at some motel outside of town. "I'm talking once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, pal. She's the reason hard-ons were made."

    He swallowed it all -- hook, line and sinker.

    Chuckling over what he was going to tell his wife when he came home minus his paycheck, I made my way over to the sultry sex kitten. She was throwing heat like a furnace. Melting chocolate bars at twenty paces. It was too hot to fuck, but next to her, that scorcher felt like a cool, seaside breeze.

    "I just made you twenty bucks, and all you had to do was stand here looking gorgeous, Gorgeous." She didn't say anything, just looked me up and down and blinked those big baby blues. The sheen of sweat on her face glowed under the neon lights. She'd sucked all the flavor out of the end of the Popsicle, so the tip was white.

    I fished out a crisp, new bill and passed it over. She let it rest in the palm of her hand as she stared at it, confused. She tried giving it back to me, but I stopped her. "See that guy over there?" I asked, stepping aside to give her a glimpse. "He just paid me a lot of money to sleep with you."

    He what?" she goes, insulted. She threw down what was left of her Popsicle and took a step closer. Her eyes burned like a butane flame. Like most women, she looked better when she was steamed. But I didn't want her making a scene. She was liable to blow the act.

    "Don't get yer panties in a bunch," I said, shutting her cakehole with my hand. I told her about the con and then nervously took my hand away. I was sure she was gonna blow up again. But she kept quiet. I told her we had to scram and didn't give her a chance to say no. I just put my arm around her waist and steered her toward the exit gates. I gave Pops a back-handed wave as we booked outta there double-time.

    My dick is long and my cons are short. Cop and blow, that's my motto -- take the money and run. Otherwise things got a way of getting ugly.

    Two minutes later, we were hauling ass down the highway in my supercharged Chevy Menace. It was an acid green two-door with cheetah seat covers, four on the floor and dual exhaust. Twin cams and 440 horses under the hood.

    "Say," I said, "what's your name, anyway?"

    I was hoping to get to know every inch of her better. She smelled like coconut oil. Her tanned skin gave off heat like asphalt that'd been baking in the sun all day.

    "Bunny," she goes. "Bunny LaFever." She was a real piece, too. I couldn't wait to do all sorts of dirty things to her. "How much you take him for?" she asked. "Two-fifty." In actuality I scored three-fifty. But if there's one thing I know about women, it's never tell them exactly how much money you've got.

    Back at my room at the God bless America Truckstop Motel, she showed me that that sweet and innocent show was just a put-on. I was glad, though. I prefer a girl with some experience under her belt.

    Before I knew it, she was all over me like stink on shit. Purple from the Popsicle, her tongue sprung to the back of my throat and then snaked all over the inside of my mouth like she was mining the gold fillings out of my teeth. Despite all the tongue wrasslin,' her hands were nowhere near where I wanted them to be.

    My dick had been so hard for so long I thought it would blast off like a rocket, but she kept her distance. The teasing was cute at first but enough was enough. I grabbed her hands and planted them on the tent pole in my pants.

    She pulled away and took a few steps back.

    "You trying to insult me? You think you can have this body for free?" Bunny squeezed her 'lopes together, serving them up for my hungry eyes: "These tits alone cost five bucks to look at."

    I chuckled nervously. "C'mon," I go, "quit screwing around."

    "I'm totally serious. Five bucks or I'm gone."

    I started laughing for real, digging the little swindler. What else could I do but pay up? She had me right were she wanted me.

    This was one of those times in a man's life when he knows his dick's doing the brainwork but he doesn't care. Whatever the dick wants, the dick gets. That right there's the whole story of my life.

    I plucked a five-spot from my wallet and waved it like a flag of surrender. She just looked at it. "I don't want your money now," she goes. "Pay me later."

    "Whatever you say." And I just eased back on the bed to enjoy the show.

    She peeled off her T-shirt and out bounced those giant, all-natural juggs. She had razor sharp tan lines from the sling of a skimpy bikini top. You could tell from her nips that the air-conditioning was on full-blast.

    Bunny danced around the room, wiggling and shaking everything her momma gave her. I looked her up and down until I could've guessed her weight. She had all the right parts in all the right places and then some.

    She neared the bed and leaned over me to let those massive, all-American melons swing inches above my face. "Wanna taste them?" she goes. As if she had to ask.

    I lifted my head to suck the tantalizing titties into my mouth, but she snatched them away.

    "Five bucks," she goes.

    "All right, five bucks."

    "Five bucks each, big spender."

    "You got it."

    "Pay me later," she cooed, and moved closer to bury me beneath her treasure chest. "Mmm," she purred, "you suck real good."

    "Damn straight," I mumbled. "You're getting my money's worth."

    She only laughed as her fingers spider-walked down to my crotch and unzipped my fly. "You'd like a tit-fuck, wouldn't you?"

    It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. Some girls are mind readers, but Bunny LaFever was the first dick reader I ever had the pleasure to meet.

    "Twenty bucks," she barked.

    I was like, "A bargain at twice the price. Pay you later?"

    "That's right, bright boy."

    We switched places on the bed so that she was on her back. I kicked off my shoes and pulled down my pants and underwear. This dick of mine's got its own zip code and time zone.

    When she gripped the shaft, her fingers didn't reach all the way around. She was like, "Lucky for you I'm still in my size-is-everything phase."

    "Me, too," I said, dropping to my knees to straddle her. My hard-on slipped between her cleavage like a hot dog in its steamed bun. She pressed them together to make the sandwich good and tight as I began my strokes.

    I humped her hooters harder to push my dick closer to her succulent mouth. She stuck out her pink tongue and tickled the tip. Back and forth it fluttered over the head.

    "There's a freebie," she giggled. "But I won't take one in the mouth for less than twenty."

    "How much to swallow?"

    She had to think that one over. "Thirty," she answered. "And that's only cuz I like you."

    I dismounted and stood beside the bed. She sat on the edge of the mattress to let her mouth get better acquainted with my cock. Her tongue twirled over my shaft until it looked like a monument of polished marble.

    She blew me good and slow, repeatedly bringing me to the edge of orgasm and then stopping until the urge melted away.

    The build-up felt so good it hurt. I never begged anyone for anything before. But tortured by her talented tongue, I was actually begging for mercy.

    After some more tongue lashing, she finally let me fill her mouth. She swallowed, too, and it felt like my whole body was sliding down with it.

  6. So, what are _they_ doing? by n-baxley · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Other than having balls enough to do it, or a lack of brains, are these "baloonauts" really doing anything? Could they just as easily place put a monkey on the baloon, or a corpse for that matter? Maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems that if anyone should get credit for the new record it should be the engineers. But, of course, we never get credit for anything.

    1. Re:So, what are _they_ doing? by QuodEratDemonstratum · · Score: 2, Informative

      Andy Elson, at least, is very much an engineer

    2. Re:So, what are _they_ doing? by MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM · · Score: -1

      They are raging homosexuals.

    3. Re:So, what are _they_ doing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are riding in an open cockpit balloon to 130,000 feet. Sounds like something to me.

  7. parachute by moosesocks · · Score: 2

    Lets hope they equip these guys with a parachute... just incase.... POP!

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    1. Re:parachute by CaptainStormfield · · Score: 1

      Answers the question about why someone would pay $20 mill for a shuttle ride, no?

      Though I suppose you'd have a better chance parachuting from the balloon than you would from an exploding shuttle.

      --
      "The dinosaurs died because they didn't have a space program." - Niven
    2. Re:parachute by Mt._Honkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, that's not as easy as you make it sound. In order to survive such a jump, you first need a drogue chute that keeps you from spinning wildly out of control, and then a multi-stage main chute that opens a little bit at a time. This is because you would be going super-sonic at that altitude, and the shock of going into the lower atmosphere with a fully deployed parachute would snap you and the chute like so much fish. The guy who did the 102,000 ft. jump barely made it, if I remember it correctly. Didn't he have a problem with the drogue?

      --

      Don't Bogart the fish sticks
    3. Re:parachute by hubie · · Score: 4, Informative

      You are referring to Kittinger's 76,000 ft jump. He got tangled in his drogue (it wrapped around his neck) and passed out. An automatically deployed emergency chute saved his life. On his 102,000 ft jump he was in danger of losing his hand because his glove depressurized.

    4. Re:parachute by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 2
      From the web site:
      If the gondola had to make an emergency descent, the envelope would be cut away and the platform would freefall at supersonic speed. The stability of the gondola at high speed is therefore critical. Emergency parachutes will be fitted to control the speed of the descent.
      Supersonic? Geeze, Six Flags has nothing on this! I guess you'd never know if the chutes didn't work.

      --
      If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    5. Re:parachute by bleckywelcky · · Score: 1


      What about terminal velocity? If you came down to fairly pressurized regions in the 5k ft to 10k ft range, wouldn't you be going slow enough to use a normal shoot. Or at least use a drag shoot initially just to slow down slightly more and then use a normal shoot?

    6. Re:parachute by Mt._Honkey · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure. I think that the air density increases extremely fast as you approach that area, and if you slam into a region of air where you normally go 150 mph going 550 mph, there's going to be a problem. I don't remember exactly what the problem was, but it was something akin to that. Your idea may work.

      --

      Don't Bogart the fish sticks
  8. biggest balloon ever? by adminispheroid · · Score: 3, Insightful
    After claiming that it'll be the biggest balloon ever, they never give a size. Unless you count "400 times the size of a typical hot-air balloon and as tall as the Empire State Building; or seven times the height of Nelson's Column."

    40 million cubic foot balloons are the biggest common size used at the National Scientific Balloon Facility in the US, and I believe they're about 130 meters tall when they reach altitude. I don't know how that compares to Nelson's "Column," as they so delicately put it, but that's probably smaller than the Empire State Building.

    However, 40 km altitude is no record, the 40 millions can (and do) take a pretty hefty package to 43 km. I guess they're talking about a balloon carrying people. Why anybody would want to do that is beyond me.

    I guess this article would give the impression that ballooning is the realm of crazies and crackpots, but high altitude ballooning is a very handy technology. Much science that is done from satellites can be done from balloons for a tiny fraction of the cost.

    1. Re:biggest balloon ever? by hubie · · Score: 3, Informative
      The 40 isn't the largest balloon out there, it is (just as you stated) the largest that is part of Raven's "off the shelf" stock. I think they used to make 52's, and I'm sure if you come with the proper amount of money, they can accomodate larger sizes. I'm not sure who makes these balloons overseas.

      The goal of 40km should not be a problem for these guys if they have a successful launch. I was part of a research team that launched a 2000 lb payload to over 42 km on a 40 Mcft balloon, so if these guys get a larger balloon than that, it should be that much easier. The manned balloon altitude record, by the way, is 113,740 ft set in 1961 from the Strato-Lab V platform by US Navy pilots Malcolm Ross and Vic Parther.

      An excellent history of setting the manned balloon altitude record can be found in David DeVorkin's Race to the Stratosphere .

  9. There's only one word to say: by panck · · Score: 0, Troll

    AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh hh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhh!

    (well it would be 1 word without the lameness filter)

    --
    "What thou shalt not, I shalt did!" -Bart Simpson
  10. Advertising in the new millenium by dingo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Looking at the photo acompanying the article something occured to me. The advertising on the suits what a great idea. I mean could you imagine if in the sixties you had the fore sight to have your corporate logo plastered on Neil Armstrongs arse. The most watched footage ever. I wonder if they will try something like that for a mars mission. NASA could probably fund the whole thing by having microsoft plastered on everything...but what am I talking about...any rocket with microsoft software would probably fail spectacularly. :)

    --
    The Borg assimilated my race & all I got was this lousy T-shirt
    1. Re:Advertising in the new millenium by Yottabyte84 · · Score: 2
      any rocket with microsoft software would probably fail spectacularly.



      Remember the hindenburg? After it blew everyone stopped using hydrogen in ballons. Imagain the bad press Microsoft would get.

    2. Re:Advertising in the new millenium by dingo · · Score: 1

      Remember the hindenburg? After it blew everyone stopped using hydrogen in ballons. Imagain the bad press Microsoft would get.

      True...but hydrogen is not a corporate entity with lawyers spin doctors and money up the yin yang

      --
      The Borg assimilated my race & all I got was this lousy T-shirt
  11. Similar ballon, plus a jump! by morcheeba · · Score: 3, Informative

    This sounds similar to this australian attempt: check this article and this (better) article.

    Summary: 2 guys in spacesuits taking a giant helium balloon to 40km. In the vacum of space, they'll descend at 1600-1800 kph (994-1118 mph), becoming the first man to break the sound barrier unaided (that's cool!). Plenty of video taken for marketing opportunities.

    The funny thing is that both of these ballons claim to be going to the "edge of space" at 40km, but the traditional definition (and the one used for the X-prize) is 100km. By that standard, I guess I have beach-front property!

    1. Re:Similar ballon, plus a jump! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      when Kittinger jumped from 102,000 ft he most certainly broke the sound barrier.. mach 1.2 IIRC so i don't think these guys could be the first..

  12. And I thought it was turbulence!!!!: by anonymous+cupboard · · Score: 1

    Somehow, I would imagine a drop through some of the atmosphere at least might get a little bumpy thus that would account for the word breaks. Also, you should make it a little longer, three lines is a drop of just a few thousand feet!

  13. Largest? Hardly. by CyberDruid · · Score: 1

    Worst... Balloon... Ever!

    --

    Opinions stated are mine and do not reflect those of the Illuminati