On the face of this, it's a feel-good story: Macy's donates scarce helium to lift a Thaddeus Lowe reproduction balloon.And I do like the way this one is decorated, even if it detracts from the authenticity.
But authenticity has to be at the heart of this project. Lowe didn't fill his balloons with helium, he used coke gas or hydrogen. He had trouble being responsive to missions because of gas supply issues. He deployed a hydrogen generator which sometimes could not get him enough gas in the time available.
Wouldn't it be better to use a replica hydrogen generator or coke gas source to do this bit of re-enacting? Isn't science about the how rather that the whee of entertainment?
Re-enactors might cry "inauthentic," and they'd be right.
