World View, the commercial balloon spaceflight company, has completed their first commercial flight carrying research payloads as part of NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Flight Opportunities Program. This program gives students, researchers and educators the opportunity to fly their experiments and payloads with proven commercial flight companies.
“World View is committed to furthering stratospheric exploration and research,” said Taber MacCallum, World View’s Chief Technology Officer. “Our first flight as a NASA flight service provider marks the launch of our commercial efforts to aid research and education by providing a new way for NASA and others to access near-space.”
“Through this flight, World View has demonstrated that they can provide commercial access to near space to advance science and technology of interest to NASA,” said Dr. LK Kubendran, Program Executive for NASA Flight Opportunities.
This flight carried two university experiments to the edge of space. In one experiment, eighteen undergraduate students and three faculty members from Gannon University developed and flew equipment designed to measure new aspects in the composition of cosmic rays, a longstanding research topic in astronomy. For the second experiment, students from the Florida Space Institute at University of Central Florida tested their Planetary Atmospheres Minor Species Sensor (PAMSS), which is designed to detect the amount and distribution of gases in the atmospheres of Earth and other planets.
“Many types of space applications and research need more access to near-space than has been possible previously,” said Dr. Alan Stern, World View’s Chief Scientist. “With this flight, World View illustrates its ability to provide expanded access to the near-space environment for NASA, private corporations and universities.”
Organizations looking to work with World View on scientific or educational endeavors in the upper reaches of the atmosphere can contact Alan Stern at Alan@WorldViewExperience.com or apply to the Flight Opportunities Program through NASA.
About World View
World View is pioneering a new era of discovery at the edge of space. World View offers a gentle, comfortable and life-changing travel experience to the edge of space for private citizens as well as affordable access to a range of near-space commercialization opportunities for researchers, educators, private companies and government agencies. Available today for unmanned commercial flights at altitudes up to 140,000 feet and taking reservations for human flights and private tours, World View is creating unprecedented new access to the near-space environment. Watch the World View experience here. For more information, visit www.worldviewexperience.com. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for real-time updates.
