Consider the risk of having the balloon go pop while he was still in the capsule. Mission shot to hell with no chance of recovery all for going beyond the desi

Consider the risk of having the balloon go pop while he was still in the capsule. Mission shot to hell with no chance of recovery all for going beyond the design parameters of the balloon. They did well by playing it safe and not letting the ascent get out of control or too much above the target. Better to have 3 records set than an uncontrolled ascent with a small possibility of higher records (but not more of them) and a significant chance of disaster.