Agents race to Texas crash site as balloon from space lands in crops

"Agents rushed to a West Texas farm Thursday morning after a massive balloon from space crash-landed in a crop field. The balloon, part of a NASA research mission, came down on farmland in Hale County near Edmonton. Residents Hayden and Ann Walter were among the first to spot the object, describing it as a large parachute-like balloon floating silently above their property."

"A team from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF), led by a man identified only as Garrison, arrived at the farm to secure the balloon. Walter said Garrison explained the purpose of the equipment: it travels high into the atmosphere so telescopes can capture clearer images of stars, galaxies, and black holes. 'He said this is a precursor to NASA determining whether and where to launch a satellite,' she said."

"The research equipment featured a NASA sticker, along with one from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell, which appears to have developed and launched it. The giant device was a telescope designed to identify planets beyond the solar system and other objects in space that would otherwise go unnoticed because they are hidden by the glare of nearby stars. Reports show that a team from UMass launched the telescope on Wednesday from the CSBF in Fort Summer, New Mexico at 11am ET."

Agents responded to a West Texas farm after a massive balloon from space crash-landed in a crop field near Edmonton in Hale County. Residents Hayden and Ann Walter first spotted a parachute-like balloon floating silently and notified the Hale County Sheriff's Office, which confirmed the object was part of an unmanned high-altitude NASA experiment. A Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility team led by Garrison secured the balloon. The equipment carried a telescope from UMass Lowell that reached roughly 120,000 feet after launch from the CSBF in Fort Summer, New Mexico, capturing cosmic images to identify exoplanets and other faint objects. The cause of the descent is unclear amid the government shutdown.

Read at Mail Online