Setting up Shop, Monitoring the Weather

Setting up Shop

Scientific balloon launches have been part of NASA’s mission for over 30 years, but in 1977, they were conducted by NCAR– the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  NCAR maintained a balloon launching facility in Texas that had all of the equipment and resources to support experiments like ours.  Unfortunately, Texas was too far south for our experiment.  Instead, we would be operating from makeshift facilities in Aberdeen, a town of 25,000 in an area of South Dakota that offered low population, but enough infrastructure to meet our technical and launch requirements.

There was a regional airport outside of town, and an airplane hangar was provided to house our laboratory field station.  We were not the only researchers, however.  Groups from other universities were also trying to measure the properties of cosmic rays.  We each had a section of the hangar to set up and prepare our experiments for launch.  After packing up our instrument and all the essential support equipment from our 4th-floor lab in the Physics building into a rental truck and driving a day west on Highway 12, we arrived in Aberdeen.  It took us several more days to recreate an operational cosmic ray field lab in the airplane hangar.  

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Eclipse Party 2024- pre-eclipse

At Zuber’s River Camp, with Old Baldy in the background.

The terms of the campground reservation required a three-day stay.  This was fine with us; it was a beautiful location, and we would be entirely avoiding the post-eclipse traffic jams.  So Saturday and Sunday and even Monday morning—eclipse day– were open to enjoy the scenery at our place in Texas Hill Country.

Our compound within the camp comprised “Cabin H” with power and plumbing, and three shelters (“7” “8”, and “9”), which were basically screened-in porches with an electrical outlet.  The shelters were surrounded by outdoor space to pitch a tent or park a camper.

Our fellow eclipse partiers gradually joined us on Saturday and Sunday.  They set up their camping arrangements (tents, campers, shelters, or cabin facilities) and then went exploring.

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Eclipse Party 2024- it begins

Our plans came together well. We were worried about bringing all that we needed to host a group of 17 and worried it would all fit in our vehicle. But then, as it seemed we were ready to go a full day ahead of time, we worried that we must be forgetting something. I never have my stuff together by the scheduled departure! What was I missing? Well, we decided to leave as planned anyway– we’d figure it out later if we needed to. But isn’t that how all trips start? It was just the lack of rushed panic at the end of packing that was missing.

My friend Rich traveled to Texas as a passenger in a caravan that included more friends, John and Karen, and friends of friends Jennelle and Mike. John is a professor emeritus of environmental engineering, but I think if he wasn’t, he’d be a long-haul trucker. He insisted on driving the full distance, no sharing the wheel with other potential driving shifts. Stopping for gas was a necessary interruption, but stopping for a meal was lost time entirely– they could eat sandwiches on the road. They made the trip from Minneapolis to Zuber’s in two days. I’m glad to be in a different caravan.

Rich arrives at Zuber’s with his descriptively labeled beer, just for the occasion.
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