After all a research balloon carrying its payload will travel for a while. Besides we need to recover it before sundown. Wisely PolAres balloon command decided on Friday to reschedule the launch for one day.

Sunday - October 5th, 2008. Weather forecast was true - no clouds cover the deep blue sky. Meeting point is at the Lustbuehel observatory in Graz (Styria) at 7 a.m. The balloon team and the volunteers gather in its dome - not really awake but most caught a cold. Notebooks are set up and antennas which were painfully assembled the day before are erected on the roof. Also cars are equipped with antennas.

The magnificent sunrise betrays about the low temperatures in autumn. Time to get ice scrapers to use. At 8 a.m. both tracking teams leave. Though there is nothing to chase yet experience taught us to gain some advance to catch up with the balloon when it will touch down. Just quickly fuel up with gasoline and coffee and off we go.

A preliminary computation of the flight path shows Szombathely (Hungary) as the possible destination. So tracking car 1 goes to Hartberg (Styria) while the second car is on its way to Fuerstenfeld (Styria). Hartberg, 9:30 a.m. - we had some late breakfast and await orders from our control center. The launch - planned for 9:30 a.m. - is delayed because three air planes are still in nearby air space. 15 minutes later permission to launch is granted by the control tower at Graz airport and Passepartout is lifting off.

It is a successful start, although we can’t reveive the GPS signal of the payload. Aparently, one of the two barques doesn’t work. Our radio operator Robert points the receivers towards the second barque. Some minutes after 10 AM we have a signal! The balloon is already at 6km height and has an inner temperature of 13 degrees Celsius. It starts to deviate from its pre-calculated course and drifts towards the south. Therefore we change our location towards Passepartouts route and go to Gleisdorf.

Passepartout has reached a hight of 16km and is moving very fast. Its velocity is between 40 and 60 km per hour. Additionally to the general movement there is a lot of random motion. However, we have caught up with it – but as soon as we’ve done that, it changes direction again and is now moving towards east. It is still rising and reaches its final height of 31,4km around 11:20 AM – a remarkable achievement. We hope that the onboard cameras take pictures of everything which is happening “up there”. Shortly after that we get the message that our balloon has exploded – also on our screen we see it loosing height. It is now down to 26km: Only 30-40minutes are left until the landing.

Again, the austrian federal armed forces trace our balloon with radar and add to our GPS data. This should make following the balloon easier. During its fast descent it is very hard to locate, and also the GPS signal only reaches us in large gaps. Shortly before we reach the border station at Heiligenkreuz, Passepartout is down to 17km – in principle we should be able to see it now. However, even with binoculars we can’t find the balloon.

The balloon lands around 11:50AM – without us knowing, where. Finally we get the last data from the control centre. They are the starting point for our search: 20km further inland, in a place called Bajansenye, Hungary. Our phones stop working and therefore we can’t communicate with the second car. The roads are in bad condition – stopping in the middle of a forest, passing bridges which you would be careful to go over on foot… but luckily, both teams arrive at the final destination, even with using different paths.

We receive something that could be the balloon and start looking for it. The strength of the signal varies and is not easy to locate. We therefore use other means of searching. Close fields, gardens and even a deserted industrial area get searched thoroughly. We ask locals, climb trees to look with the binoculars and pick up every little red thing that could be a part of the parachute. For three whole hours. Finally, we have to capitulate.

Meanwhile, the controll centre has received a track and trace signal. This signal doesn’t agree with the GPS data (a systematical error?) but fits well with the data we got from the Austrian army which were taken 3km over ground. It seems as if our balloon dropped vertically for the last kilometres. The new coordinates are 10km and another border away – in Slowenia. We pack everything together and head towards Saloci…

We receive something that could be the balloon and start looking for it. The strength of the signal varies and is not easy to locate. We therefore use other means of searching. Close fields, gardens and even a deserted industrial area get searched thoroughly. We ask locals, climb trees to look with the binoculars and pick up every little red thing that could be a part of the parachute. For three whole hours. Finally, we have to capitulate.

Meanwhile, the mission control centre has received a track and trace signal. This signal doesn’t agree with the GPS data (a systematical error?) but fits well with the data we got from the Austrian army which were taken 3km over ground. It seems as if our balloon dropped vertically for the last kilometres. The new coordinates are 10km and another border away – in Slowenia. We pack everything together and head towards Saloci…

The region is covered with woodland. We try to get over a small path as close to the destination as possible. The last hundred meters we have to walk over corn fields. The balloon should be in the little forest behind them. When we arrive at the exact coordinates, we still can’t see Passepartou – until we look up: It hangs 15m high in one of the trees!

It has gone 4PM and although we are glad to have found our balloon in one piece, we are at a loss for a moment: How do we get it down from that tree? We finally agree to ask experts and go to look for a place where we can call the fire brigade. After some language barricades we find Rudolf, who has lived for 20years in Switzerland and speaks Hungarian, slowenian, Croatian, Italian – and german. With his help, we can organise the rescue of Passepartout. The firemen are still at another mission, so we have to wait in the woods. Without anything to eat since breakfast and the sun going down, the situation is not very comfortable. Judith, our fearless pilot, tries to climb the tree on herself but has to give up after a few meters.

While we are discussing several methods of getting that balloon down the tree (shoot through the rope, use a long pole, cut the tree…) the fire brigade arrives. After a first view of the situation (quote. Ojojoj…) they try a long ladder, a fearless comrade and crampons to reach the balloon – without luck. The coming dark finally stops every further tries and makes us return to Graz.

Monday, 6th of October. Rudolf has talked with the firebrigade and a second try to rescue the balloon starts. This time with a saw. Apart from the tree – which we will compensate the owner for – we have to mourn another casuality. A little bridge has fallen to pieces after driving over it. When we finally arrive at 6PM in Salovci, our hero Rudolf already awaits us – with the rescued balloon! Everything is still there and thanks to the careful fire brigade also unharmed. It took them about four hours to get it down Rudolf tells us. And that he now also wants to learn English, since “one has to know that nowadays.” We thank him in the name of the whole Austrian Space Forum for his help, his commitment for science and get his business card – who knows, we might need a translator again with our next balloon start…