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Balloon Surfers;

I had to laugh when Donovan Finnestad called to inform me the LPSU balloon and payload launched and lost in central Oregon last June had been recovered and returned to PSU. Apparently Bob and Janette Roth found the payload while ranching, and took it to the Christmas Valley Post Office where Darrel Krabil paid the postage and returned it to PSU. They will be rewarded! The who, where, how, and why, are now discernable from cruising this website. It is just unbelievable that all 200 onboard still camera digital images managed to survive 4.5 months in the desert. Our recovery attempts never even put us in the neighborhood. The images tell the story. This is a gas, and when the ‘agony of defeat’ end this way—with the ‘agony of victory’…how sweet it is.

…so we’ve got all the hardware back and will be gearing up for the next mission(s)—think spring even though the successful joint OSU-PSU launch in Fall (link this one and make small LPSU launch site) proves that a good season to launch despite the chill. Most sincere thanks to all…

Special acknowledgement to Extra-LPSU 2005 team members:

Yongkang Chen (PSU Post Doc and driver)
Lihong Yang
Jesse Finnestad (expert sushi chef)
Papa Finnestad (LPSU fishing consultant)
Dirk Sharp (Flight Navigator, Attorney at Law, Bend, OR)
Randy Potter (Pilot, CAP, Chaplain, Bend, OR)

Team final report below...