High-altitude balloon meant to mimic satellites pulls off longest flight yet

Arizona-based company World View successfully pulled off a five-day test flight of its specialized high-altitude balloon, which is designed to carry Earth-observing instruments to the upper edges of the atmosphere. It’s the longest flight yet of the so-called “stratollite,” though eventually World View hopes to keep these vehicles flying for months, or even a year, at a time.

The stratollite is meant to act like a low-hanging satellite. But rather than rocket to space and then orbit the Earth, these vehicles are designed to leisurely float to more than 20 miles up in the stratosphere — and then stay there. The stratollites “surf” the high-altitude winds in order to hover continuously over one patch of the planet. Each stratollite balloon...

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