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Old July 2nd 20, 12:58 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Alain Fournier[_3_]
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Posts: 548
Default Easy Ride to Sub Orbital Altitudes

On Jul/1/2020 at 18:22, David Spain wrote :
On 7/1/2020 1:01 PM, Dean Markley wrote:
On Wednesday, July 1, 2020 at 11:11:19 AM UTC-4, David Spain wrote:
On 2020-07-01 10:57 AM, David Spain wrote:
Ride a helium balloon to the edge of space in a pressurized & tethered
gondola! No ill effects from 0g free fall for those with queasy
stomachs.

Dave

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsl...ce/ar-BB16aMVM



I thought helium, the gas is actually "renewable" hydrogen. oh boy.
Helium would be too expensive for this big boy. Can you say reserve
parachute in case of giant flaming ball of gas above you? Yes, yes you
can....

https://thespaceperspective.com/fly/

Dave


Hydrogen is unlikely to burn at those altitudes.Â* Even down lower, it
still needs to exit the balloon and mix with oxygen to burn.Â* The
Hindenburg did not burn because of the hydrogen.Â* It was that very
flammable envelop made from dope (acetate resin) with aluminum dust.

At altitude sure. But you have to get up first and then back down.
Through plentifully oxidizing troposphere.

What you are saying about the Hindenburg: That's like saying gasoline
will extinguish a match. In absence of air that is true. In fact it's
why Molotov cocktails aren't made out of plastic bottles. However, that
doesn't mean I'll be dropping matches into gas cans. Let's get real, the
Hindenburg fireball wasn't made up of acetate resin, even if that is
what triggered it. How many acetate resin fires brought down helium
balloons? I wouldn't want to ride this up through a thunderstorm, would
you? Why does everyone on USENET split hairs?


The hydrogen of the Hindenburg made a ball of fire going up away from
the passengers. That fireball was very inconvenient and uncomfortable,
but I don't think it killed anyone. Passengers didn't burn to death.
They fell to their death because the envelop had burnt (some actually
jumped to their death, erroneously thinking they had a better chance of
surviving the fall than the fire). If the Hindenburg had been filled
with Helium, the passengers would have fallen even if the Helium would
have only escaped away without burning.


Alain Fournier