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NASA's Space Balloon Smashes Car In Australia

Posted by samzenpus on from the wrong-turn dept.

Humunculus writes "Of more worldly issues, NASA's latest multimillion-dollar stratosphere-bound balloon launch has gone horribly wrong and crashed into a car, turning it over and narrowly missing two elderly people who were observing the launch. The payload fared worse, reportedly being smashed into a 'thousand pieces.'"

2 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Re:humm? by chalkyj · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quite high if you had a car parked next to the launch rig. Which is what happened. If you bothered to click the link.

  2. Re:Who authorized go on launch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't think that was a planned release, it seems more like an accident.

    It looks as if the crane was rotating when the accident happened. The force of the balloon and the rotation of the crane seemed to have put a torque on the apparatus that was holding the rig in place. The apparatus snapped, releasing the rig and hijinx ensued.

    Also, never part downwind of space balloon launches.