So . . . with the absence of a reclining acceleration seat, he just hangs onto the parachute air vent pipe when the thing blasts off? Or maybe he curls up around it on the floor. Tricky . . .

I wonder how well that air vent thing would work if the rocket came down nose first.

You guys are such nitpicks. I’m sure they will work out the kinks once they’ve tried it a few times.

Except for the ‘manned’ part, balloon launched rockets actually existed.

I like that guy standing there. He looks like something off a Greek vase.

Torgo, I think the illustrator took that image right out of Grecian Clipart Vol. 1.

Can someone explain the steering wheels to me? I assume they are meant to be operated by the pilot. They appear to be 1 foot up from the floor on opposite sides of the cylinder. Was there an “anti-ergonomics” movement back in the ’30s?

This is an old idea that hasn’t gone entirely out of fashion. Former x-prize contenders: http://www.arcaspace.ro… and http://www.davinciproje… both planned balloon launch.

I’m really surprised that rocket balloons are this old. Right now the first team to launch for Google’s Lunar X-Prize is using a similar approach.

But the inventor isn’t named. I’d really like to know about patents, and maybe contact his descendants.