Title
Piccard Family Ballooning — a Multi-decade, Multi-generational Affair
Start Date
29-6-2016 7:00 PM
End Date
29-6-2016 8:30 PM
Abstract
Don Piccard
Donald (Don) Piccard, long-time American balloonist, comes from a family with a very long history of ballooning!
Don’s mother, The Reverend Dr. Jeannette Piccard, was the first woman licensed as a balloon pilot in the United States by the National Aeronautic Association. (Earlier there had been several women pilots in Europe and many unlicensed ones the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries.) While flying in 1934, she was the only female stratospheric balloon pilot. Aside: She was also the first female ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church.
Don’s father, Dr. Jean F. Piccard, was the inventor of the plastic balloon and the multi-balloon. He was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota in Aeronautical Engineering from 1936 till his retirement in 1952. His use of explosives for remote activation was an important, though controversial, innovation with a profound influence on the engineering of the modern spacecraft. He was the origination of the modern plastic balloon industry which was a critical step in the space program under Dr. Robert Gilruth — a favored student and protégé.
Don first flew in a balloon in 1933, enlisted as “crew” by his mother. In 1957 he flew the first multi-celled plastic balloon, getting two pages in LIFE magazine! And in 1963, along with Ed Yost, Don Piccard was the first to fly the English Channel in a hot-air balloon.
He organized the first hot air balloon races and the first balloon championships in the world and also founded the Balloon Club of America, resurrecting the sport in the post WWII era which ultimately grew into the Balloon Federation of America. He operated Don Piccard Balloons and the General Balloon Corporation and was a leader in sport balloon design and manufacture, introducing many important innovations including the suspension load tapes and the bulbous gore load distribution. In more-recent years Don has been working on XAP, the eXtreme Altitude Project, to carry people by balloon to altitudes above 50 km (above 150,000 ft) — far higher than current altitude records.
Piccard Family Ballooning — a Multi-decade, Multi-generational Affair
Don Piccard
Donald (Don) Piccard, long-time American balloonist, comes from a family with a very long history of ballooning!
Don’s mother, The Reverend Dr. Jeannette Piccard, was the first woman licensed as a balloon pilot in the United States by the National Aeronautic Association. (Earlier there had been several women pilots in Europe and many unlicensed ones the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries.) While flying in 1934, she was the only female stratospheric balloon pilot. Aside: She was also the first female ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church.
Don’s father, Dr. Jean F. Piccard, was the inventor of the plastic balloon and the multi-balloon. He was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota in Aeronautical Engineering from 1936 till his retirement in 1952. His use of explosives for remote activation was an important, though controversial, innovation with a profound influence on the engineering of the modern spacecraft. He was the origination of the modern plastic balloon industry which was a critical step in the space program under Dr. Robert Gilruth — a favored student and protégé.
Don first flew in a balloon in 1933, enlisted as “crew” by his mother. In 1957 he flew the first multi-celled plastic balloon, getting two pages in LIFE magazine! And in 1963, along with Ed Yost, Don Piccard was the first to fly the English Channel in a hot-air balloon.
He organized the first hot air balloon races and the first balloon championships in the world and also founded the Balloon Club of America, resurrecting the sport in the post WWII era which ultimately grew into the Balloon Federation of America. He operated Don Piccard Balloons and the General Balloon Corporation and was a leader in sport balloon design and manufacture, introducing many important innovations including the suspension load tapes and the bulbous gore load distribution. In more-recent years Don has been working on XAP, the eXtreme Altitude Project, to carry people by balloon to altitudes above 50 km (above 150,000 ft) — far higher than current altitude records.