So these past couple of days,
I've been lucky enough to 
basically witness this entire
project come together
in this place.
It started super simple.
The idea is just it's David.
It's the balloons,
and he's floating away,
disappearing into the sky.
But everything that has to
come together around it
is incredibly complex,
but in order to make it possible
and safe.
And so what's resulted
is this incredible A-team
of all the best experts
in aviation and ballooning
and skydiving and everything
all here.
So, let's go ahead
and meet that team.
Dude, so fun.
Marques: Luke Aikins, he's a
 world record-setting aerial
 expert and leading the team.
All right, so, Luke,
why are they fitting you
with all the tech right now?
- For some reason, I was going
  to be the test dummy, but...
- Okay.
No, David's busy getting ready
to practice hanging and doing
all that stuff.
He just can't be in two places
at once.
so right now I'm gonna just do
a jump and test the equipment
 to make sure everything's
 working right.
Marques: So what's it like
 having this superhero team
 of the number one
 skydiving expert,
 the ballooning expert,
the weather expert?
Does that feel like
the best case scenario?
Right. Yeah, absolutely, right?
'Cause everyone--
everyone has an answer,
and it's about understanding
 what the point on the horizon
we're driving toward is, right?
And that being this image
of childlike wonder of--
even with all this tech here,
it's gonna look like David
goes out there
and just grabs a bunch of
balloons and floats away, right?
Like that is--
if it doesn't look good,
why'd we do it?
Marques: Art Thompson,
 he's produced major
 breakthroughs
 in the aerospace industry.
When we're doing test flights,
you know, 
everybody thinks
we're training David.
 We're actually training
 the ground crew
because we're learning
how to work together.
- Teamwork. Always important
  to have good teamwork.
- Teamwork and science.
Marques: Bert Padelt,
 he's a third generation
 balloon aviation expert.
But the ballooning part,
what's the biggest question mark
for you?
So there's a number of little
steps along the way
before he cuts himself loose
that I'll be breathing a sigh
of relief on.
Marques: Don Day,
 he's the weather expert
 responsible for making
 the final call to launch.
So what's your predicition
for our actual launch window?
It's actually gonna cool off
a little bit here in the desert,
so things are looking
very favorable.
- Fingers are crossed.
  Fingers are crossed.
- Fingers are crossed.
 ( music playing )
