Introduction to the Stratobowl

The balloon launches from the Stratobowl broke the barrier of the Stratosphere and led to the beginning of space exploration. 

"Near Rockerville, halfway between Rapid City and Mount Rushmore in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, lies a national treasure- the Stratobowl. The Stratobowl is a natural, circular canyon, a depression in the earth, an amphitheater waiting for the call of history. Then one day, history's day came. The Stratobowl became the launching site of four highly successful, record breaking high altitude balloon flights into the Stratosphere - Explorer I, Explorer II, Stratolab I, and Stratolab IV. Jim Winker, a retired engineer from Rave Industries in Sioux Falls, called the Stratobowl the 'Cape Canaveral of its day.'"

Balloons Aloft: Flying South Dakota Skies

"Little did we know that in a few years man would fly in space and then after another few years that man would walk on the moon.

But it all started right here in the Stratobowl."

Joe Kittinger

"At the time when we first chose South Dakota as a starting point, one of the reasons, aside from the natural advantages of the Stratobowl, was the fact that we had 1,200 to 1,700 miles of the United States to drift across, southward or eastward. For more than 1,000 miles we had flat, level country in which to make a landing before reaching mountains."                                                                                                                                                             National Geographic, May 1936