50 years ago, a balloon circumnavigated the world for science
Excerpt from the April 7, 1973 issue of Science News
High-altitude research balloons like this NASA balloon over Antarctica have led to many scientific discoveries. Hopefully, fears over spy balloons won’t ground them.
Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility
Twice round the world by Boomerang balloon — Science News, April 7, 1973
Scientists recovered for the first time … a balloon scientific payload after a long-duration, twice-around-the-world flight. The project is called Boomerang and is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of using balloons for long-duration research.
Update
Balloons fill an important niche in science, bearing instruments to study physics, atmospheric chemistry and astronomy, or to test technologies for space missions.