High Altitude airship In The Sky

Too high to be visible to the naked eye due to cloud cover, a high altitude balloon operated by Raven Aerostar floats over Mobile Bay Friday afternoon. Located 64,300 feet or roughly twelve miles high, the balloon moves NNW at a ground speed of nine knots or about 10 mph. Data from the balloon places it over the Bay roughly 1.5 miles southeast of Dog River Bridge. Based in Sioux Falls, SD, Aerostar, a division of Raven industries, designs, manufactures and operates high altitude balloons for a variety of aerospace and defense applications. Raven Aerostar flew an unmanned airship into the stratosphere, maintaining powered flight at 70,000 feet for two hours while carrying a five pound payload in 1969, a feat the company says has never been done before. Raven Aerostar has multiple locations, including at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile.