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Creating an event to mark two decades since Nike put their biggest air unit ever on the market, and the recent size? exclusive re-release of this classic model, we took Nike’s ‘Maximum Air’ tagline they gave to the original campaign very literally, giving it the maximum air possible. Just over a month ago, we released a short film unveiling the two new Air Max ’93 colour-ups in a peculiar setting. Some people have speculated it is fake, some still don’t believe it. Others have even suggested we have access to movie quality CGI. So we’ve moved to quell any doubts about The Maximum Air Programme and present a behind the scenes look of the build up, launch, landing and recovery of our custom-built rig.

Constructed from scratch in a workshop near Hereford, England by Adam Cudworth, a distinguished member of the UK High Altitude Society (UKHAS http://ukhas.org.uk/start), the payload took just under 24 hours to complete and weighed in at 2.2kg. Once at the launch site the rig was released, hitting speeds of up to 20 MPH to reach an altitude of over 42,000 metres and finally reaching the stratosphere in around 90 minutes.

Once the hydrogen had expanded and the maximum capacity of the latex reached, the balloon burst and began to descend at a rate of 220 MPH until the parachute deployed and it slowed to 25 MPH. The rig landed safely and totally intact in a field near Oxford, around 90 minutes away from the original launch site, located via a GPS tracking device fitted within the payload. The footage, filmed via three GoPro Hero 2 cameras, showed the complete flight and landing which documented the entire event from start to finish.

Even the soundtrack used on the film is a nod to the model itself, using Soles Of Mischief’s ’93 Til Infinity’ instrumental. After months of planning and preparation, size? had just put a trainer into space.

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