It shattered the previous record of 42 days set by Cream I, another cosmic ray experiment that flew during the winter of 2004-2005.
The team celebrated by thanking everyone involved in a long series of tweets -- including the balloon’s maker, Raven Aerostar, and NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, which tracks and controls the balloon.
The Super-TIGER was launched from the Ross Ice Shelf on Dec. 9, 2012, and has circled the South Pole two and a half times at an altitude of about 130,000 feet, three or four times higher than passenger planes cruise.
The team hopes it will complete the circuit in another 8 to 10 days, coming back round to McMurdo latitude, or at least close enough that it can be retrieved.