Research and Test Apparatus Available to Purchase

Functional and environmental tests at near 90,000‐foot altitudes have been successfully accomplished on electromechanical components for guidance and control systems designed and developed by Autonetics, a division of North American Aviation, Inc. The tests were carried out with the components mounted in a metal‐framed gondola carried aloft by a large helium‐filled balloon. In all, four flights were made from the flight test centre at New Brighton, Minn., operated by General Mills, Inc. In the longest of these test flights, the balloon travelled to the vicinity of Des Moines, Ia., where the gondola was safely parachuted back to earth. Other flights ranged between 60 and 100 miles east and west of Minneapolis before the equipment under test descended to earth.