The Balloon Museum: Albuquerque's Lighter-Than-Air Capital
Near Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque holds the International Balloon Fiesta every October, the largest balloon event on Earth, drawing nearly nine hundred thousand visitors. The museum named for local aviators Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman, who made the first transatlantic balloon crossing in nineteen seventy-eight, explains why Albuquerque became the ballooning capital of the world. The answer is a weather phenomenon called the Albuquerque Box: at low altitude, winds blow south; at high altitude, they blow north.
A skilled pilot can ride up into the northerly flow, travel a short distance, descend into the southerly flow, and return almost exactly to the launch point. No other major city on Earth offers this combination of reliable gentle winds, clear skies, and the box effect. The museum opened in two thousand five and traces balloon history from the Montgolfier brothers' first flight in seventeen eighty-three to modern altitude records.
