Identify a balloon accident in the 90s or 2000s
P 15 of this link describes an incident on July 20 1990 where an unmanned scientific balloon project accidentally experienced a freefall of the payload from 120,000'.  Any chance that what you are remembering was this, or something similar? 

http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19910006317


  The 1990 calibration actually consisted of two flights,
  one on July 20, 1990 and the other on September 6, 1990.
  A malfunction occurred during the first flight, which
  resulted in a complete loss of data and a subsequent free fall
  of the payload from _ 120,000 ft which bent up the tracker
  assembly and destroyed several cell modules. The tracker
  was rebuilt, several cells were replaced, and the refurbished
  payload was flown again in September.