22 Aug 2026

The Salter Test Flight launched at 8:31 a.m. MDT (10:31 a.m. EDT) Saturday, Aug. 22 from the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, marking the first successful scientific balloon flight of the campaign.

The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of around 123,000 feet, and flew for a total of 4 hours, 8 minutes. The flight tested hardware for future balloon missions. A piggyback mission for Cubes in Space carried around 100 tiny payloads with small experiments designed by students ages 11-18.

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(A) A scientific balloon carrying the Salter mission, a technology test flight, launched Aug. 22, 2026. This was the first flight of NASA’s 2026 Fort Sumner campaign.

(B) The Cubes in Space payloads is attached to the side of the Salter test flight balloon gondola Aug. 22, 2026. The payloads launched as a piggyback mission on the test flight during NASA’s 2026 Fort Sumner campaign.