RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A twin-balloon airship built by California's JP Aerospace flew to a height of 95,085 feet over the Nevada desert, higher than any airship in history.
The height was nearly 4 miles higher than any other airship has flown.
Once at altitude, the pilot on the ground remotely turned on the motors and flew the airship through a series of maneuvers.
At the end of its mission one balloon burst and the command was sent to release the other balloon, JP Aerospace said. The craft, Tandem, was eased to a soft landing by parachutes.
JP Aerospace said Tandem's two balloons are separated by a 30-foot carbon fiber truss. Two electric motors each spin a 6-foot-long propeller specifically designed to work in thin atmosphere.
JP Aerospace, an all-volunteer, independent space program, said it spent $30,000 and five years developing the airship.
Tandem is a general workhorse vehicle. A high-altitude backhoe, it will be used as a launch platform for small research rockets, a mother ship for hypersonic test airships and all-around tool for JP's Airship to Orbit program, a project to build large V-shaped airships that will fly to space.
Tandem is also a construction vehicle for high-altitude research stations and eventually cities at the edge of space, JP Aerospace said.
