Episode Fourteen: Andrée’s Big Balloon Crash of 1897

S. A. Andrée and Knut Frænkel with the balloon on the pack ice. Photographed by Nils Strindberg, the third expedition member.

In 1896, Sweden had fallen far behind in the race for the North Pole. Out of the fray emerged Salomon August Andrée, who put forward a proposal so cutting edge it was immediately funded and flooded with national support. He would fly a balloon over the Arctic circle, sweeping ahead of Norwegian attempts and taking the glory for Sweden. Unfortunately, weather and science were not on Andrée’s side.

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