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Seven runs to the edge of space in four days! We had over 200,000 viewers, hundreds of live images posts and tweets to the vehicles in flight and very jazzed partners. Recovery teams are still in the field heading for the last three vehicles. The team is dead tired (1:30 am starts, 10pm completions five days in a row), but completely pumped. We have lots of great new friends from Japan and a greatly stretched and expanded capability set. I’m off to recover one of the recovery 4wds that had to be abandoned in a particularly challenging canyon. More news as access allows.

JP

We’ve teamed up with Samsung to do this live event from the edge of space.

This is what we’ve been working on for the past six month. We’ve conducted seven test flights so far. Now it’s time for the real deal. The JPA Team and our teammates from Japan have been pushing hard these last few weeks getting everything ready. In addition to the folks from Japan JPA members from from Austria, Wyoming, Milwaukee and Oregon have flown in to join up with the local crew to really do this right.

Electronic wise these are the most complex vehicles we’ve ever built and it will all be flown and seen live for millions of folks, no pressure!

Myself and the last of the team rolls early tomorrow morning.   Wish us luck!

JP

Practice shots from the last mission.

Moment of Launch

Balloon Burst

One Roll then Reentry

Moment of Landing

The next seven for July.

You know you’ve made the big time when you appear in a comic book.

It’s from ‘Escape from Terra’. Check it out!

Sewing day. We need to make eleven new fins and three new parachute for the next mission.

The shop is so full of boxes of parts for the seven vehicle mission that we can hardly walk around. The big killer is the cables and connectors. Each vehicle has over 50 cables-connector-adapters. Time that by seven and you can see why these things take over an hour just to plug in!

We building seven new high racks for flights this summer. The space community is always concerned with “flight rate”. The notion is the higher the flight rate the lower the operation and build costs. Well, we seem to be in the middle of a live study of that idea. We’ve pushed ten big complicated vehicles up this year so far and we’re only getting started.

It’s a hard push but I think what we learn this year will serve us well in the future.

What a mission! Four flights to over 100,000 feet, very worried clients breaking out in cheers and tears when it all came together live from the edge of space, incredible hikes and climbs to the top of ridges with staggering views into isolated valleys of the high Sierras, a rescue operation for a recovery team in trouble, little sleep and hard work for three days in the desert and a team that was in the “zone” the entire time preforming at a level of personnel best and cool smooth professionalism I have never witnessed in the several decades of doing this.

Everyone and all the vehicles are back safe and sound. In a few weeks we can post pictures and video and talk about it all. This mission was only a test run for the actual missions coming soon.

The mission control van has just rolled. We’re heading once more into the dust of the desert and the blackness of the edge of space.

We’ve haven’t been able to talk much about this one. It for some friends of ours and they get to handle the public info. I will say this in going to be a pretty amazing set of flights. There will be four heavies all running to 100,000 feet. There are the most complex high rack we’re every done.    We’ve been pushing 15 hour days for a week with nine folks from the client.  The winds aloft are howling and it looks like more long recoveries.

Back Monday with news.

JP