330-PS-6008 (USN 483600):  Navy Testing Cosmic Radiation at North Geomagnetic Pole.  The U.S. Navy icebreaker USS Staten Island (AGB-5) with a group of civilian and naval scientists onboard left Boston, Massachusetts, on July 18, 1953,  for the North Geomagnetic Pole.  They will make a comprehensive series of high altitude observations of the primary cosmic radiation and the pressure, temperature, and density of the atmosphere in the northern latitudes.  This project, known as Project Mushrat, is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research with the assistance of the Bureau of Aeronautics and the Military Sea Transportation Service – Atomic Energy Commission Joint Program of Basic Research in Nuclear Physics, and the Naval Research Laboratory Program of Upper Atmosphere Research.   Because of the widespread interest in the project, and particularly in the balloon-rocket technique, a number of observers from the three military services will accompany the expedition.  The Balloon-Rocket Technique, commonly referred to as Balloon Assisted Take-Off (BATO) or Rockoon, was developed by Dr. James A. Van Allen at Iowa State University and used on board the USCGC Eastwind during the summer of 1952.  This method makes it possible to reach high altitudes by small, relatively inexpensive rockets.  During the summer of 1952, one of the balloon rocket flights launched from Eastwind and achieved a peak altitude of about 295,000 feet.   Photograph released June 28, 1953.  (4/21/2015).
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