From the May 19, 1934, issue
By Science News
CHEMICAL FROM WELLS MAKES SHIP OF THE SKY
Pictured on the front cover of this week’s Science News Letter is the metal sphere in which Major William E. Kepner and Captain Albert W. Stevens, Army balloonists, will attempt to soar to new stratosphere heights under auspices of the National Geographic Society.
The gondola is made from alloy, of which 95 percent is pure magnesium, a chemical recovered from the brine of oil wells. Aluminum is half again as heavy as this alloy, and steel would be nearly 4-and-a-half times as heavy. The extreme lightness, accompanied as it is with strength, will give the stratospherists a decided advantage.