Six Balloons Begin World Flight

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31004, 9 March 1966, Page 1

Six Balloons Begin World Flight

Six weather balloons released from Christchurch Airport since Saturday are now moving eastward at 20,000 ft.

They are part of Project Ghost, which is being directed by an American meteorologist, Mr V. E. Lally. In Christchurch yesterday he said everything was going well.

“We are becoming electronically saturated by signals from what has been sent aloft so far," he said. All the balloons released for about the next six weeks would float to 20,000 ft before moving to a higher altitude, he said. Two balloons were released on Saturday, Sunday and yesterday. As they were intended for lower altitudes it would be about 40 days before the first was blown back to Christchurch after having circled the globe. In the lower altitudes, winds were slower, less reliable and more erratic. This was why

the flight would be slower than those of balloons to be released later at 80,000 ft. Those would circle the earth in only 15 days. The first two balloons released on Saturday were in a tropical latitude, almost 2000 miles north-east of New Zealand. The second two wei;e about 1000 miles east of the country and those released yesterday had by 5 p.m. passed in a north-easterly direction over Wellington. Tracking had been excellent, said Mr Lally. “In fact we are receiving too many signals,” he said. “Each of the balloons is being tracked by stations throughout the Southern Hemisphere." If successful. Project Ghost, now only a pilot project, could have a revolutionary effect on meteorology and weather forecasting.