10 Miles Up In A Balloon -- In a hermetically sealed cylinder hanging from a giant balloon, a Swiss scientist today began an attempt to go higher in the air than man has ever gone before. He is Prof. Auguste Piccard, member of the staff of Brussels University, and he hopes to reach a height of ten miles above the earth. He is accompanied by an assistant. The start was made soon after dawn from a field at Augsburg, Bavaria. Prof. Piccard (right) and Dr. Kipfer, his assistant in the balloon ball, testing instruments for the ascent. May 27, 1931. (Photo by Topical Press).