Glass plate mono negative

Soviet balloon without a crew to ascend 24 miles into the stratosphere . Will tell secrets by radio . The first entirely automatic stratosphere balloon is being completed at Leningrad . It is expected to make an attempt on the record shortly . It is claimed that this ballon will be capable of reaching a height of 24 miles , and that because of its completely mechanical nature this attempt will be the first in which success can be predicted with certainty . The machine consists of a gondola attached to several globes made from elastic rubber , which will expand as they rise to regions where the pressure is lower . A steady ascending force will be maintained up to a maximum height for which the ballons are designed , and then they will burst , the gondola descending by means of a new parachute . The gondola will have no crew to operate the various delicate instruments with which it is equipped . All the apparatus will work automatically . It is also equipped with a mechanical camera which , which is to take photgraphs of the earth ' s surface from varying heights . There is also an instrument which will trasmit the impulse of cosmic rays by radio and other apparatus which will send by radio the compsoition of the oxygen at various heights during the flight . Photo shows , inflatin one of the elastic globes at the Leningrad works where the ballon is being constucted . 26 March 1934