Flight information

• Launch date and time

  • NZDT (McMurdo local): 16:59 January 1, 2015

  • UTC: 03:59 January 1, 2015
  • EST: 22:59 December 31, 2014
  • CST: 21:59 December 31, 2014
  • PST: 19:59 December 31, 2014

• Launch site: Long Duration Balloon (LDB) field camp, 3 miles from Williams Field (NZWD), McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica

• Float altitude: 36 km (118,000 feet)

• Real time tracking from CSBF

Major media coverage

• "A High-Flying Web May Catch the Beginning of Time", Scientific American, Nov. 12, 2014

• "Canadian scientists on Antarctic mission aim to reveal cosmic origins", Globe and Mail, Dec. 19, 2014

• "Big Bang to be Investigated from Balloon in Antarctica", New York Times, Jan. 2, 2015

• "UBC telescope searching for clues to beginning of the universe", Global News, Jan. 8, 2015

University coverage

• "Far above Antarctica, Princeton's 'spacecraft' seeks traces of the early universe", Princeton University, September 25, 2014

• "Welcome to Antarctica: counting down to the launch of SPIDER", University of Toronto News, December 9, 2014

  • Accompanying online photo gallery

• "Princeton satellite successfully heads to the 'edge of space' to study the early universe", Princeton University, January 6, 2015

• "Researchers launch SPIDER telescope to study universe expansion", The Ubyssey, University of British Columbia, January 7, 2015