CASEY, Ill. - s4story -- The Aerostratospheric x1Albatross climbed at about 5.5 meters per second (roughly 1,080 feet per minute, or 12 mph vertical) on an east-northeast track. It reached an estimated burst altitude of 18 kilometers / 59,000 feet about 54 minutes after launch, then descended. Total flight time was about 1 hour 40 minutes. The vehicle landing was in rural Vigo County, Indiana, about 38 miles east-northeast of Casey.

Surface weather at launch was sunny and warm with light southwest-to-west winds. This flight was a trajectory and envelope check using a simulated X1Albatross.

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The operational X1 Albatross is a different vehicle: a long-duration balloon built to enter the mid-latitude jet stream and stay there, not climb and burst in an hour.

Once released into the right layer — typically the upper troposphere / lower stratosphere, on the order of 35,000–60,000+ feet, depending on fill and season — Albatross rides the prevailing westerlies. Mid-latitude jets generally run west to east. A balloon that stays in that core can lap the Northern Hemisphere: Pacific, North America, Atlantic, Eurasia, and back. Follow us for more missions at https://aerostratospheric.com