The Navy 's unmanned balloon program , Project Skyhook , was based in Minneapolis , which was also a center of balloon research and development being carried out by the University of Minnesota and General Mills . In 1953 , Ross was transferred to the air branch of the Office of Naval Research ( ONR ) in Washington , D.C. as Balloon Projects Director . In this position , he began to direct high-altitude balloon projects to obtain cosmic ray and meteorological data with the Project Skyhook program , working with Ruby Ward as the contracts negotiator of the ONR . Ross was technical director for Project Churchy , an expedition to the Galápagos Islands to obtain cosmic ray and meteorological data from balloon flights . He arranged for balloon launchings at Goodfellow Air Force Base in 1954 and 1955 . He was a member of the scientific group that launched balloons for the ONR at Saskatoon , Saskatchewan , Canada , and photographed the 1954 eclipse of the sun from a Skyhook balloon over Minneapolis
1954 eclipse of the sun
Solar eclipse of June 30, 1954
Malcolm Ross (balloonist)