NASA Scientific Balloon in Antarctica

NASA image captured December 25, 2011

A NASA scientific balloon awaits launch in McMurdo, Antarctica. The balloon, carrying Indiana University's Cosmic Ray Electron Synchrotron Telescope (CREST), was launched on December 25.

After a circum-navigational flight around the South Pole, the payload landed on January 5. The CREST payload is one of two scheduled as part of this seasons' annual NASA Antarctic balloon Campaign which is conducted in cooperation with the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs. The campaign's second payload is the University of Arizona's Stratospheric
Terahertz Observatory (STO). You can follow the flights at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility's web site at www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice.htm

Credit: NASA