I've sometimes wondered that too. Though it wouldn't get very high (40km compared to 200km for ISS).
well it might remove the necessity of using the 1st stage rocket on a saturn 5 that produces 7.6 million pounds of thrust to reach 200,000 ft altitude.
from that point you would only need to supply 1 million lbs of thrust to continue further if you were delivering a saturn 5 sized payload from the 2nd stage upwards.
but theres no need to have such large payloads.
and they do make pressure vessels that resemble ballons.
so the balloon can be adjusted in size as it moves further upwards and gas can also be pumped in to give more lift as required.
this way the platform could achieve a higher altitude than the 51 k ft record.
perhaps the gas could even be given a electric charge that could help the lifting even further.
heck you might even be able to get the platform all the way to the ISS.
without consuming any fuels at all.
because you would only be releasing gas into a container and then compressing that gas back into a container.
the electric charge could be accomplished using solar power , electric or thermal.
What if it's the Russians who do it?
this is space were talking about here , and the ISS
is not a U.S. only project.
the I is for International.
