A high-altitude balloon test vehicle flown by Tucson-based World View Enterprises went down in a controlled crash near the Rincon Mountains east of the city, the company said.
No injuries were reported.
The unmanned flight took off on a pre-approved flight path from the company’s headquarters and launch pad south of Tucson International Airport and crashed about 10:30 a.m. according to flight data confirmed by the company.
World View has been flying unmanned stratospheric balloon missions from its Tucson site and other sites for research and commercial customers since 2014, logging more than 100 missions.
The company announced on Monday plans to begin offering $50,000 tourist flights aboard special manned capsules by 2024.
Tucson-based World View Enterprises plans to start flying tourists to the stratosphere in balloon vehicles by 2024. Video courtesy of World View.
In a prepared statement, World View CEO and President Ryan Hartman said the company had launched the flight Wednesday to test a new component used only in the remote sensing system and it was not part of the recently announced space tourism business.
Hartman said the flight was terminated earlier than planned and the balloon was brought down with a parafoil, a type of steerable parachute “as standard practice.”
“This was the first time the new system was being evaluated, which proved successful for launch and ascension testing but not for a long-duration flight,” Hartman said, adding that feedback from the test flight will provide valuable data for future development.
“The flight was terminated earlier than planned but there was no balloon crash. It was a normal termination of a flight where the balloon came down on parafoil as standard practice.”
