The flight of the stratosphere balloon "Explorer" ended at Holdredge, Nebraska, when the 3 members of the crew, Major William E. Kepner, Captain A. W. Stevens and Captain Orville A. Anderson, all of the US Army, parachuted safely from the gondola when the huge gasbag of the balloon ripped at an altitude of about 60,000 feet. This photo shows the men entering the gondola just before the takeoff from Rapid City, South Dakota. 28 July 1934