The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Union Balloon Corps on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., by re-enacting, in part, the balloon demonstration that Thaddeus Lowe gave President Lincoln there on June 11, 1861. Lowe successfully pitched to Lincoln that day how balloon reconnaissance could help the Union Army prevail in the Civil War by reporting his sightings as he floated 500 feet above the city. For Saturday’s anniversary event, the museum displayed on the mall a partially inflated 19,000-cubic-foot netted gas balloon built in 1941 to replicate Lowe’s and had actors portraying Lowe, Lincoln, and Union soldiers. “One hundred and fifty years later, balloons are still performing the function they did in 1861,” said Tom Crouch, the museum’s curator for lighter-than-air aircraft. (AFPS report by Donna Miles) (See also Kansas City Star report.)
Army Building Up New Space Operations Branch
Oct. 15, 2026
The Army has long been dependent on space capabilities to navigate terrain, communicate in hard-to-reach areas, and identify and strike targets. Now, the service wants to deepen its space operations expertise and is making plans to expand its own cadre of operators in the coming years.