Stratospheric balloons

Chronological lists of launches worldwide since 1947

Here you can browse StratoCat's comprehensive database of stratospheric balloon launches, sorted by year. Please note that while the database covers approximately 75% of global balloon launch activity since 1947, it does not provide statistically representative values yet. Consolidating all available data may take several years. Each blue badge number represents the launches performed for that year. Click on a year to view details of the flights including launch base, flight duration, mission purpose, and payload landing location. Some experiments offer further details such as operational accounts, scientific objectives, results, reference links, and related images. For the latest updates, check out the table at the bottom of this page featuring the thirty most recent database entries.


Total number of balloon launches in the database: 16028

1947

16

1948

22

1949

48

1950

14

1951

64

1952

141

1953

532

1954

315

1955

336

1956

825

1957

483

1958

879

1959

504

1960

429

1961

408

1962

393

1963

341

1964

464

1965

482

1966

442

1967

386

1968

328

1969

348

1970

367

1971

248

1972

263

1973

244

1974

181

1975

273

1976

214

1977

210

1978

203

1979

245

1980

202

1981

142

1982

156

1983

146

1984

108

1985

115

1986

105

1987

104

1988

128

1989

103

1990

127

1991

113

1992

137

1993

86

1994

112

1995

113

1996

74

1997

112

1998

107

1999

125

2000

123

2001

96

2002

81

2003

82

2004

102

2005

128

2006

109

2007

73

2008

63

2009

66

2010

74

2011

56

2012

96

2013

196

2014

66

2015

50

2016

46

2017

119

2018

197

2019

289

2020

274

2021

155

2022

81

2023

86

2024

102

2025

98

2026

57

Last 30 records incorporated into our database (last update 31-Aug-2026 - 08:54:04am)

Launch baseDateFlight DurationExperimentPayload landing place or cause of the failure
ESRANGE8/26/202623 hKEYSTONE7 km SW of Raistakka, Lapland, Finland
Fort Sumner (NM)8/22/20264 h 8 mSALTER TEST FLIGHT--- No Data ---
Fort Sumner (NM)8/24/20264 h 20 mCLIC (Compact Large Sensor Imaging Camera)7 km S of Willard, New Mexico, US
Near Amboy (CA)7/17/20265 h 13 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOON16 km SE of Fort Irwin, California, US
Near Yucca (AZ)7/21/20264 h 58 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOON8 km NW of Sandy Valley, California, US
Near Gabbs (NV)7/23/20263 h 16 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOON44 km E of Unionville, Nevada, US
Near Mt. Vernon (OR)8/28/20263 h 47 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOON10 km SE of Enterprise, Oregon, US
Mojave Air Center (CA)8/26/20263 d 4 h 21 mTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 83414 km SE of Metallic City, Nevada, US
Mojave Air Center (CA)8/25/20264 d 3 h 10 mTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 83322 km SE of Metallic City, Nevada, US
Mojave Air Center (CA)8/25/20263 d 4 h 53 mTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 83216 km SE of Metallic City, Nevada, US
Mojave Air Center (CA)8/24/20264 d 3 h 10 mTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 8319.8 km S of Metallic City, Nevada, US
Mojave Air Center (CA)8/24/202619 h 50 mTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 83018.9 km E of Beveridge, California, US
Taiki8/22/20262 hCLOVER (Cherenkov Light Observation Venture for Energetic cosmic rays with Rubber balloon)In the Pacific Ocean, 35 km E of Taiki, Japan
ESRANGE8/21/20264 h 43 mBEXUS 36 (Balloon EXperiments for University Students)10 km SW from Tuolpukka, Sweden
TIFR Hyderabad3/10/20241 h 51 mBLACK CARBON MEASUREMENTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE1 km SE of Ramanabhavi, Telangana, India
TIFR Hyderabad11/20/20231 h 36 mBLACK CARBON MEASUREMENTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE2 km NE of Bibinagar, Telangana, India
Ponce (PR)8/1/202612 hPAYLOAD UNKNOWNIn the Caribbean Sea, 35 km south of Haitian shore
Minamisoma8/6/20267 h 42 mPAYLOAD UNKNOWN7 km W of Tadami, Fukushima, Japan
TIFR Hyderabad8/5/20264 h 22 mPAYLOAD UNKNOWN2 km N of Morochi, Maharastra, India
Rio Hato7/31/20268 d 8 h 40 mSTRATOLLITESunk over international waters in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Costa Rica.
Ofunato Port7/31/20261 hTEST FLIGHTIn the Pacific Ocean, 20 km SE of Ofunato, Japan
Taiki7/2/20262 hRERA #7 (Rubber balloon Experiment for Reentry capsule with thin-type Aeroshell)In the Pacific Ocean, 80 km ESE of Taiki, Japan
Palestine (TX)7/15/20266 h 20 mCLIC (Compact Large Sensor Imaging Camera)23 km SW of Sterling City, Texas, US
Vijayawada5/27/20267 h 30 mMISSION SANAIn Raichur District, Karnataka, India
Artesia (NM)7/13/20264 h 15 mSPEED (Stratospheric Projectile Experiment of Entry Dynamics)12 km SW of Hermosa, New México, US
Winnemucca (NV)12/9/201420 d 16 hPROJECT LOON FLIGHT I-4181,5 km from the small town of Hermole, Irak
Page (AZ)7/1/20264 h 45 mTECHRISE STUDENT CHALLENGE12,3 km NE from Wolf Hole, Arizona, US
Spaceport Tucson (AZ)5/21/20263 hPAYLOAD UNKNOWN12 km SE from Dos Cabezas, Arizona, US
Hurley (SD)6/29/202610 d 11 hTHUNDERHEAD FLIGHT 8214 km from gays, Illinois, US
Hurley (SD)7/10/20259 h 20 mLIGHTNING FLIGHT 7726 km E of Westfield, Iowa, US