A National Geographic team of scientists, engineers, and balloon pilots spent two weeks to plan, build, and lift a 2,000-pound, 16x16-foot yellow house into the air using 300 weather balloons - setting the new world record for the Largest baloon cluster flight.
The previous Guinness world record for The largest helium balloon cluster consists of 20,000 balloons and was achieved by Coca-Cola Beverages (Shanghai) Company Limited in Huanglong Stadium, Hangzhou City.
Guinness World Records also recognized The largest water balloon fight, achieved by 3,927 participants at an event organised by Brigham Young University (USA) in Provo, Utah, USA.
It took the team about two weeks to plan, build, and lift the house into the air using balloons. They needed about 300 weather balloons, each of which inflated to a height of 8 feet, in order to lift the 2,000-pound, 16x16-foot yellow house.
Lifting off early in the morning outside of Los Angeles, the house floated for about an hour and reached an altitude of 10,000 feet.
The entire aircraft of house and balloons was about 100 feet tall.
The concept of a house being lifted into the air by balloons may sound familiar to young movie-goers who have seen Pixar's latest animated feature called "Up."
In the movie, an old man and a boy go on a ride when the house they're in is lifted into the sky by balloons tied to the house's roof.
National Geographic Channel's "How Hard Can it Be?" will premiere in fall 2011 and will feature an episode during which scientists build and fly a 16-foot wide x 18-foot tall house using 300 8-foot colored weather balloons to lift the structure into the air. |
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Largest Balloon Cluster Flight