Kiwi-born balloon technician Alec Beange spent 11 years working at Nasa's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas and at Nasa's global balloon launch sites around the world.
Two years ago he moved to Alexandra with his Texan wife and now works exclusively on Nasa's Antarctic and Wanaka balloon campaigns and said launches only go ahead if the weather and wind are right.
''If Nasa decides it's going to launch at 7am we're out on the launch pad at midnight setting up, but every half hour we're getting weather updates, wind directions and speeds from our meteorologist Chris Schwantes,'' he said.
''If everything is looking good we carry on in stages until we're 99% sure the launch is going ahead before we lay out the balloon.''
Mr Beange said it can take the riggers and technicians 30 minutes to lay out the balloon and from 60 to 90 minutes to inflate it, before it could be tested, which took 15 minutes.
A Nasa spokesman said the winds needed to be light and flowing in a reliable direction both at the surface and at 300m for the launch to proceed.
''The balloon flight train is nearly 300m long, so an inconsistent wind pattern could cause a shearing effect once the balloon is launched,'' he said.
Mr Beange said there was a lot of ''hooting and hollering'' whenever a balloon was launched ''but then you realise your work has finished and you have to leave.''
He said Wanaka was a very popular launch site for the Nasa scientists and logistics crew as it was near the town, it had great food, and great outdoor activities like fishing, golf and hiking.
''A lot of the other locations were in the middle of nowhere and very remote, like Alice Springs, northern Sweden and Antarctica.''
''Wanaka is one of the nicest locations we launch from.''
Nasa and Wanaka airport are holding an open day for ''Wanaka locals'' tomorrow from 4pm to 6pm.
