Explorer II stratostat after landing
Explorer II is a stratospheric balloon built in the USA . Helium was used as the lifting gas [1] , and the gondola had a spherical shape with a diameter of 2.7 m. The shell was brought up to 100,000 m³ in volume. In the manufacture of the gondola, which had a weight of 290 kg, an aluminum alloy was used.
On November 11, 1935, the stratospheric balloon made a record climb to a height of 22066 m with a crew of: Albert Stevens and Orville Andersen. This record remained unsurpassed until 1956 (StratoLab-1). The launch took place from a training ground in South Dakota, near the city of Rapid City