NSBF at Ft. Sumner, NM
Figure 9 NASA balloon hangar at the National
Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF) located at the airport in Ft.
Sumner, New Mexico (NM). The airport is used as a civilian aviation and
balloon launch facility. The airport was used in part for glider and P-51 (Mustang)
fighter training by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. The NSBF is
operated by the Physical Science
Laboratory of New Mexico State University.
The research facility is funded by NASA's
Scientific Ballooning Program.
Figure 10. Gondola for the Observations
of the Middle Stratosphere (OMS) program of NASA. LACE sits on the second
floor on the left back side surrounded by the Ozone
and ALIAS-II instruments. The gondola was constructed by the Balloon Group
(Jim Riccio, Balloon Gondola Manager) at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. We plan to use this gondola for launching LACE from
the Brazilian Balloon Facility
in November-December of 1996.
Figure 11. LACE lab and support equipment in the NASA hangar.
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