Fell asleep earlier and had a dream where that i exactly what I did. Would it be possible though?

Yes.

Depends what your definition of ‘space’ is, pretty sure its been done tho.

how does a ‘lighter than air craft’ float in a vacuum?

Read Freefall by Tom Read

As in completely outside the earths atmosphere 1000km up or whatever that is.

I think it has been done…and for some reason I’m thinking there is a Youtube video of it…depends on your definition of space is…I guess it would be where gravity has less effect on you – assume the balloon and you can survive the re-entry (at a guess when you start loosing gravity you are above the ‘confines’ of the Earth so coming back in is going to be bumpy and hot!) then yes…

Absolutely. The only reason no one’s done before, is probably because no one has ever thought of it.

It takes a guy to have a dream for that sort of thing to happen.

If I were you I would try to raise enough money to give it a go.

You’ll probably be famous………..I wish I could think of a good idea like that 😐

There is a company developing a balloon that will go to 36km up, but there is nothing that has ever been higher – not that I can find anyway.

depends on your definition of space is

Well its obvious where space is …….its that stuff between the earth and the moon – the space in fact. Zuluman should aim to land on the moon. And then come back.

As in completely outside the earths atmosphere 1000km up or whatever that is.

Hot air is ‘lighter’ than cool air. So a hot air balloon goes up.

Now… the big question is… “Is hot air lighter than nothing”.

Nope – still not convinced – balloons rely on being less dense than the atmosphere. Space has very very little ‘atmosphere’ – say one Hydrogen per m3 – how you going to float in that?

Balloon with secondary propulsion to push it past 70km high – maybe.

SBZ in the not too distant future….

Can I be the first to ask about the conveyor belt.

You’ve also got to fight the fact that gravity is still pretty strong when you get up higher. At the height the ISS is flying at (~350km), gravity is about 90% of the strength it is at the ground..

You’ll really struggle to get any buoyancy in any atmosphere there!

Would you need bouyancy at that altitude though? I’m figuring that once the balloon is in space then it’ll use the “every action has an equal and opposite reaction” thing to move about.

Stuff in orbit is not weightless – just falling over the horizon – quickly.

Joe Kittinger did it in the ’60s

It’s been done already – at least the outward trip was done in a balloon, the return trip was done in freefall.
Tom Read (book above) was one of many who’ve tried to beat the altitude record for skydiving that Kittinger set but no-one’s done it yet

Not a hot air balloon and not really space. Not if you think of space as being in orbit at least.

Impressive though.

Zulu asks about a hot air balloon going into space, what Kittinger did was in helium balloons, a fairly big difference imo.

EDIT : Hadn’t seen 5thElefant’s comment ^ 😐

Hey, didn’t Jules Verne do this? or was it a ruddy great cannon?

Be clear it is not the same as going into orbit which requires to reach a speed of 7-8 km per second for a low-Earth orbit! It’s scrubbing all this kinetic energy and slowing down that makes “re-entry” such a hot, fiery affair.

Dropping out of a balloon is fine. I’m not sure balloons can reach the nominal “edge” of space (100 km) before they would run out of lift. But they do go very high. Anyone know?

That image is stunning.

gonna need a fast balloon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity#List_of_escape_velocities

Since hot air balloons use propane to generate the heat, wouldn’t there be some limitation where the oxygen level got so low that you wouldn’t get proper ignition of the propane and your rise would stop.
I know a lot of hot air balloon pilots here in Albuquerque and will have to pose the question. I have been at 9000 ft in one and that’s a long ways up to be dangling in a basket from cables—the more experienced pilots here do fly over the Sandia mountains above the city that are at 10,400 feet—of course the National Guard and Forest Service have had to helicopter up and rescue a few stuck on the side of the mountain periodically.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBZeWjGjl8[/video]

a while (quite a while I think) ago there was an IMHO amazing program about a woman breaking the hanggliding record, (*memory hazy so some bits may be cobblers) but I think she broke the womans balloon height record at the same time, she was strapped to the glider which was strapped to the balloon, anyway there was a bit where the bloke with the camera said something like ‘from here you can see the curvature of the earth’ and then panned back – !!!!!!!!!!!!!!awesome!!, anyway at the top her eyes were frozen shut and the air was so thin that when they dropped her it didn’t glide it fell, it really did – just disappeared, landed in the Mongolian dsert, broke her arm.

Can’t find the bit I want but anyway:
Judy Leden MBE – Senior Instructor, teaching hang gliding, paragliding, aerotowing, tug flying.

World Women’s Hang Gliding Champion
World Women’s Paragliding Champion
British Hang Gliding Team Member
British Paragliding Team Member
Multiple World Record Holder (including absolute altitude record of 41,307 feet)

I believe the current record for a hot air balloon is around 70,000ft

One of the big problems, I would guess, is the expansion of the balloon as the external pressure decreases.

You may get to a point where the pressure inside the balloon is so low that it actually no longer provides enough lift to carry the weight of the capsule/basket.

The fact that the external air pressure will eventually run out, means that the balloon would end up expanding beyond the limits if the material, I would guess.

Plus, there would be no air for the fuel to burn.

From Wikipedia:

Hot air balloons are able to fly to extremely high altitudes. On November 26, 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,027 meters (68,986 feet). He took off from downtown Mumbai, India, and landed 240 kilometers (149 miles) south in Panchale.[16] The previous record of 19,811 m (64,997 ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas. As with all unpressurized aircraft, oxygen is needed for all crew and passengers on any flight that exceeds an altitude of about 15,000 ft (4,572 m).[17]

Bawbag – nice vid, and Boards of Canada sound track to boot!

probably because no one has ever thought of it

Apart from, say, Edgar Allan Poe in 1835. 😉

Hey, didn’t Jules Verne do this? or was it a ruddy great cannon?

Yes, the characters in From The Earth To The Moon used a cannon. Verne used balloons for lots of other purposes in his stories though, partly because he was a massive Poe fanboy.

@SBZ – Go for it and I think you can do it if you try.

1st Dibbs on SBZ’s bikes btw.

Right. I have a balloon. It seems that SBZ has sufficient hot air. Let’s do it.

no problem with expansion on a hot air balloon of course, there’s a hoofing great hole in the bottom!

I’ve read about using a vacuum-filled tank for lift (Nothing weighs less than anything)