Scrapbook 2: Jul 1962 — Big Shot 2
A balloon goes up—922 miles
Technicians are dwarfed by Big Shot, the largest man made object to be sent into space. The balloon, 135ft in diameter, as tall as a 13-storey building, went 922 miles high after being launched this week by a Thor rocket from Cape Canaveral.
NOTE: Video of (probably) this balloon inflating.
That page claims Big Shot 2 was launched on September 18th 1962 and reached 250 miles, but I believe this is incorrect: the Cape Canaveral Spaceport News and the NASA report on Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 list Big Shot launches on January 15th 1962 (failed at 250 miles) and July 18th 1962 (reaching 922 miles), with none in September.