Photo Gallery | World View Enterprises

World View conducted its inaugural Stratollite launch from Spaceport Tucson on Sunday, October 1^st, 2017, officially opening the Spaceport for flight operations. The inaugural launch also served as the beginning of a major milestone Stratollite mission for World View, breaking a previous duration record and concluding after five days of continuous, controlled flight in the stratosphere. The mission met all customer and test requirements in the process, signaling the commercial readiness of World View’s long-duration, persistent, and controllable Stratollite vehicle.

On June 29th, 2017, World View launched its first attempt at a long-duration Stratollite shakedown mission. The mission was intended to test a number of firsts simultaneously, including the Stratollite’s keystone altitude control capability, a solar power generation and distribution system, high definition video downlink, effective steering of the vehicle, and a new launch method. This maiden Stratollite mission also ferried a very unique and fun promotional payload from KFC, who helped sponsor a significant portion of the development of the Stratollite in exchange for a ride to the edge of space. While the mission was terminated after 17 hours due to a minor leak in one of the innovative new altitude control balloons, it met all core system test objectives and clears the vehicle for another attempt at a multi-day flight in the very near future.

Balloon Manufacturing

Highbay R&D Engineering Integration

HQ from Spaceport Tucson Launchpad Aerial

HQ from Spaceport Tucson Launchpad

Mission Control

Parafoil Inspection

Stratollite with not to scale balloon

World View HQ

Officially opened on February 23rd, 2017, the World View Global HQ will house stratospheric balloon manufacturing, stratocraft assembly, Stratollite and Voyager development activities, payload integration, and flight mission control. The Headquarters is co-located with Spaceport Tucson, a 700ft diameter Launchpad and the world’s first major commercial gateway to the Stratosphere.

5m Resolution Remote Sensing Stratollite Imagery

Balloon Fill

World View Stratollite

In February 2017, World View and Ball Aerospace successfully completed a Stratollite mission, demonstrating early capabilities for remote sensing applications from the stratosphere, nearly 70,000 feet above Earth. This latest mission is a pathfinder for a commercial offering of low-cost, persistent, high-resolution imagery data from the stratosphere and is part of the collaboration between the two companies.

Balloon Prep

The World View team prepares the balloon for launch, which eventually reached a peak altitude of just over 103,000 ft.

Launched

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) tested a miniature solar observatory on a five-hour high-altitude balloon flight out of Benson Municipal Airport.

Preparing the Balloon

Preparing to release the balloon in anticipation of launch.

Preparing the Payload

SwRI team members work alongside World View personnel to ensure a smooth payload integration on the flight line.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) tested a miniature solar observatory on a five-hour high-altitude balloon flight out of Benson Municipal Airport. The balloon eventually reached a peak altitude of just over 103,000 ft.

World View successfully completed a major milestone test flight on October 24th, 2015. This test flight carried a 1,000 lb payload (~450 kg) to a final altitude of 100,475 feet (30,624 meters), successfully demonstrating heavy-lift capability.

StratEx – short for “Stratospheric Exploration,” was a project led by key World View personnel to carry Google Exec Alan Eustace to the edge of space beneath a high-altitude balloon. On October 24th, 2014, Eustace successfully completed a world record manned balloon flight to 135,908 feet.

Tycho Mission Badge

The team attaches a mission badge to the bottom of the 900lb payload before launch.

Filling the Balloon

The World View team fills the balloon with a predetermined amount of lift gas prior to launch. (Photo credit Dave Jourdan Photography)

Filling the Balloon

The flight team fills the balloon through auxiliary fill tubes before takeoff. (Photo credit J. Martin Harris Photography)

Preparing the Payload

The World View team is near ready to release the 900lb payload to the edge of space. (Photo credit J. Martin Harris Photography)

Payload Preparation

The flight team performs final pre-checks on the payload before takeoff. (Photo credit J. Martin Harris Photography)

Tycho in Flight

The 900lb Tycho payload (a series of instruments and test articles) ascends gracefully beneath a high-altitude balloon, en route to the edge of space. (Photo credit J. Martin Harris Photography)

Earth Curvature - 100k feet

The HD GoPro camera on board the experimental Tycho payload captured this image of the earth from 100,000 feet. This is the same vista World View Voyagers will see as they float gracefully atop the earth's atmosphere.

Earth Curvature - 100k feet

Yet another photo captured from the HD GoPro camera on board the Tych payload, showing the same vista that will be seen by World View Voyagers situated comfortably inside a pressurized capsule.

Record Breaking Parafoil Altitude

The Tycho test flight broke the world record for the highest parafoil flight ever conducted. For the first time in history, the blackness of space served as a backdrop for a parafoil in flight.

Mission Success!

The team behind the Tycho test flight poses for a picture after the successful completion of the mission. The "EC" flag represents the designation of this flight as an official Explorer's Club flag mission. Founded in 1904, the Explorer's Club promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences. (Photo credit J. Martin Harris Photography)

On June 18th, 2014, World View successfully completed a scaled test flight of its high-altitude balloon spaceflight system, testing several essential components and breaking the world record for highest parafoil flight in the process.