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An altitude balloon test vehicle flown by World View Enterprises of Tucson failed Wednesday morning and crashed in the Rincon Mountains east of the city, the company said.
No injuries were reported.
The unmanned flight took off on a pre-approved route from the company’s headquarters and the launch pad south of Tucson International Airport and crashed around 10:30 a.m. according to flight data confirmed by the company.
World View has been flying unmanned stratospheric balloon missions from its Tucson location and other locations for research and commercial customers since 2014, and logs more than 100 missions.
The company announced on Monday that it would offer tourist flights worth $ 50,000 on board special manned capsules starting in 2024.
In a prepared statement, World View CEO and President Ryan Hartman said the company took off on the flight Wednesday to test a new component used only in the remote sensing system and not part of the recently announced space tourism business.
“This was the first time the new system was evaluated, which has proven successful for take-off and ascent tests, but not for a long-term flight,” said Hartman, adding that the feedback from the test flight provided valuable data for future use Development will deliver.
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