Complacency caused Scientific balloon crash

A NASA report concluded that complacency was to blame for the crash of a scientific balloon on April 28 near Alice Springs, Australia. Credit: NASA

Complacency in a variety of forms led to the April crash of a huge NASA science balloon carrying a multimillion-dollar telescope in the Australian outback, according to a new report released today.

A NASA Mishap Investigation Board has concluded that weather conditions were acceptable for the failed balloon launch on April 29, and there were no technical problems with the balloon or its scientific payload, a $2 million gamma-ray telescope. 

However, the board identified 25 different human-caused factors that led to the spectacular crash.

Most of these causes were related to shortcomings in risk analysis, contingency planning, personnel training, technical knowledge, government oversight and public safety accommodations, according to NASA officials.

"First, the [NASA] Balloon Program has been operating under an underlying assumption that the risks to the public only exist in the overflight of populated areas," the report states. "This assumption has led to a very limited view of the hazards and their associated targets involved in launching balloons. 

Next, the decades of successful balloon launches under a tight budget have led to complacency and a sense that performance of safety and technical measures can be relaxed under the guise of risk acceptance."

Space Balloon Launch Disaster - Lives in Danger

The launch of a giant space balloon went terribly wrong Thursday in the Australian Outback when a heavy payload of scientific equipment broke from its mooring and dragged across the desert, slamming into a vehicle and narrowly missing bystanders.

One witness said she felt lucky to be alive after the car-sized, unmanned gondola hanging beneath the balloon careened out-of-control into the vehicle parked next to hers at the launch site near Alice Springs, in central Australia.

As the huge balloon filled with air, the bundle of equipment was ripped from its mounting and dragged across the desert, crashing into and upturning a parked four-wheel-drive vehicle and strewing debris across a wide area before coming to a halt.

No one was injured in the incident, which was captured on video by an Australian Broadcasting Corp. television film crew.