I photographed the Picard Gondola at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. After a shortened attempt from Soldiers Field in Oct 1933, a second flight was launched on November 20, 1933, carrying Navy balloon pilot Thomas “Tex” Settle and Marine Corps officer and instrument operator, Major Chester L. Fordney to 61,237 feet, as the first Americans to reach the stratosphere (Jean Piccard’s twin brother Augusta had made a similar flight from Germany in 1931).
This go0ndola’s third and final flight was launched from Ford Field in Detroit, with Henry Ford and Orville Wright attending. Jean Piccard and wife Jeanette also reached the stratosphere, setting the women’s altitude record of 57,579 feet, a mark that would stand until a Russian cosmonaut went into space.