Sunday, October 20, 2013

Goodbye, Gondola!

Goodbye Gondola! The entire gondola mockup has been entirely dismantled after occupying my place since New Year's day 2012. You can bet we cannibalized every useful valve and millimeter of wire from the old girl! This is because we will now build a metal replica of the entire 1.6m-diameter Tycho capsule, built in Denmark, here in my apartment. And that's because to integrate the suit with the capsule we have to get very specific now, as the pilot, for example, will ride on the back, not seated upright as Ben Wilson is here, in one of many thrilling tests in the past couple of years. And in 15 I'll fly in a capsule under a balloon to test the life support system above the Armstrong Limit (63k feet). Time to start training -- simulated flights complete with comms, expendables (coolant ice, battery power, breathing gas) and so on. It was great living with the gondola, but that's all over!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Cameron,

Does this mean you will be focusing more on CS than your own balloon ride?

Is CS providing you with funds now that you've teamed up? I donate monthly to CS and would be willing to donate to you if you have a system for it.

Cameron McPherson Smith said...

Thanks very much, Samuel, we are working on a page for our project now, and a Kickstarter will be announced soon. Yes, my balloon flight has been turned into CS' balloon flight, to test the suit they will use in the capsule. We appreciate your support and will be in touch!
Cheers
Cameron

Cameron McPherson Smith said...

By the way, I will still pilot the balloon in 2015 :) CMS