Stratospheric balloons

Chronological lists of launches worldwide since 1947

Here you can browse StratoCat's comprehensive database of stratospheric balloon launches, sorted by year. Please note that while the database covers approximately 75% of global balloon launch activity since 1947, it does not provide statistically representative values yet. Consolidating all available data may take several years. Each blue badge number represents the launches performed for that year. Click on a year to view details of the flights including launch base, flight duration, mission purpose, and payload landing location. Some experiments offer further details such as operational accounts, scientific objectives, results, reference links, and related images. For the latest updates, check out the table at the bottom of this page featuring the thirty most recent database entries.


Total number of balloon launches in the database: 15922

1947

16

1948

22

1949

48

1950

14

1951

64

1952

141

1953

532

1954

315

1955

336

1956

825

1957

483

1958

879

1959

504

1960

429

1961

408

1962

393

1963

341

1964

464

1965

482

1966

442

1967

386

1968

328

1969

348

1970

367

1971

248

1972

263

1973

244

1974

181

1975

273

1976

214

1977

210

1978

191

1979

236

1980

193

1981

142

1982

156

1983

146

1984

108

1985

115

1986

105

1987

104

1988

128

1989

103

1990

127

1991

113

1992

137

1993

86

1994

112

1995

113

1996

74

1997

112

1998

107

1999

125

2000

123

2001

96

2002

81

2003

82

2004

102

2005

128

2006

109

2007

73

2008

63

2009

66

2010

74

2011

56

2012

96

2013

196

2014

65

2015

50

2016

46

2017

119

2018

197

2019

289

2020

274

2021

155

2022

81

2023

85

2024

95

2025

78

2026

10

Last 30 records incorporated into our database (last update 3-Apr-2026 - 09:20:52am)

Launch baseDateFlight DurationExperimentPayload landing place or cause of the failure
Center Ridge (MS)3/26/20263 h 10 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONW of Wiggins, Mississippi, US
Jackson Lake (CO)2/6/20265 h 20 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONS of Akron, Colorado, US
Vernon (UT)11/7/20257 h 10 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONSE of Saguache, Colorado, US
South Padre Island (TX)3/13/202610 h 10 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONIn the Gulf of Mexico
Carthage (MS)3/26/20264 h 40 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONNear Wiggins, Mississippi, US
Fort Collins (CO)1/7/20264 hURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONE of Arthur, Nebraska, US
Fort Collins (CO)4/2/20263 h 10 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONNear Fleming, Colorado, US
Paardefontein5/??/1981---MIR (Montgolfier Infra-Rouge)Failed flight
Paardefontein6/??/1981---MIR (Montgolfier Infra-Rouge)Failed flight
TIFR Hyderabad3/16/20262 h 40 mPAYLOAD UNKNOWNNear Kishanguda, Telangana, India
Galeton (CO)1/28/20262 h 51 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONS of Ough, Nebraska, US
Galeton (CO)2/18/20266 hURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONNear Imperial, Nebraska, US
Galeton (CO)2/12/202619 h 20 mURBAN SKY MICROBALLOONW of St. Francis, Kansas, US
TIFR Hyderabad8/13/2024---BATAL HF1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/6/2024---BATAL ZF3--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/2/2024---BATAL ZF2--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad7/27/2024---BATAL ZF1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad7/24/2019---BATAL HF2--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad7/19/2019---BATAL HF1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad7/16/2019---BATAL SAOZ1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad7/12/2019---BATAL ZF1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad9/2/2018---BATAL ZF3--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/30/2018---BATAL HF3--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/26/2018---BATAL HF2--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/23/2018---BATAL ZF2--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/19/2018---BATAL HF1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/12/2018---BATAL ZF1--- No Data ---
TIFR Hyderabad8/17/20251 hATAL (Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer)In Nagulpalle, Telangana, India
TIFR Hyderabad8/14/20251 hATAL (Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer)In Murganoor village, Kuranhalli, Karnataka, India
Timmins (ON)9/2/202513 h 56 mLOWSTRAT--- No Data ---