A second balloon, called an "anchor balloon," will hang beneath the crew capsule and serve as ballast.

Hanging below the crew capsule is a 110-foot-diameter pressurized "anchor balloon," into which air can be pumped and compressed.

Then a small gash was discovered in the anchor balloon, forcing emergency repairs.

Jammed open, the valve allowed compressed air to spill out of the 110-foot-tall anchor balloon, making the latter useless as ballast.

Earthwinds has an external anchor balloon that serves the same ballasting purpose as our outer balloon.

The anchor balloon differs from the helium balloon in that it can be pressurized.

Hanging beneath the crew capsule will be a 110-foot "anchor balloon" made of Spectra, an ultrastrong plastic textile.

No one was injured and the crew capsule remained intact, but both the helium and anchor balloons were destroyed.

The anchor balloon, resembling a 100-foot-diameter golf ball, was inflated and pressurized two weeks ago.

The Earthwinds's solution was to replace ballast with heavy air, compressed, as needed, into a huge anchor balloon.