NASA high-altitude balloon breaks agency flight record

A large white scientific balloon launches into a blue sky from a flat, snow-covered patch of ground.

A NASA scientific balloon mission just set a new agency record, spending 57 days floating in the skies above the South Pole. 

The mission, called the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO), launched a gargantuan scientific balloon from McMurdo Station in Antarctica on Dec. 31. The balloon stayed aloft for a total of 57 days, 7 hours and 38 minutes, representing the longest flight of any NASA heavy-lift, long-duration balloon mission, according to a statement from the space agency.