Update

CREAM was cut down last night as they had been continuing their northerly spiral. At this point it looks like we will be going around again. NASA had been arguing to keep us going, and was willing to pay to keep us up there, but NSF wanted to cut us down. I'll let you know if I find out anything, but I've been told to always be ready for recovery in 20 minutes notice.

This is photo taken by a CSBF employee of the ULDB launch. I was on a hike to Castle Rock when this was occuring. The ULDB launch preparation is a little different, from what I can tell they use the tow balloon because they fill the ULDB from the top. The balloon manufacturer also sent down two representatives to assist in the launch. One of whom follows my blog and happens to have a blog of his own that definitely worth looking at. So far the ULDB has been quite successful, it has held it's altitude to within a few hundred feet, whereas the LDB with ANITA has fluctated well over 12,000 feet during our flight.








There are four ANITA team members left now, with one leaving tomorrow on an Airbus. It turns out different countries are involved with the flights between Christchurch and McMurdo. The C-17 flights stopped in early December and are set to resume later this month. The ski equipped C-130's have been handling the majority of the flights, but the South African air force has flown a few wheeled C-130's and the Australian air force is responsible for the Airbus 319 flights. Not only do the Airbus's make the crossing in 5 hours(like the C-17's) and not the 8 hours of the C-130's, but they are also quieter, have a lot more windows, and are rumored to have drink service.

The weather had been pretty warm the last couple weeks, with daytime high's in the low 40's. It has been snowing on and off for the past couple of days which has been nice.

The warm weather though means the snow road to Willy Field and LDB has been getting pretty soft and even though only the Deltas and Ivan can now go on it, vehicles still get stuck pretty regularly. There are some drivers that have been stuck noticeably more than other drivers though. This was my first and so far only time being stuck, it can take up to 45 minutes before somebody comes to pull you out.