ISH = International Standard HAB Time

ISH is not an officially recognised time zone and is generally used in conjunction with another, recognised, time zone to indicated a degree of error in the launch time. ISH time is normally the quoted launch time +/- 3 hours (more often than not +).

Example

The launch of the balloon will be at 1000 GMT (ISH)

This indicates although the balloon is intended to launch at 1000 GMT the actual time could be anywhere from 1000 to 1300 depending on a number of factors not limited to :

• Duct tape getting stuck to fingers
• Tangled parachutes and knots
• Equipment refusing to work
• Livestock at the launch site
• Camera crews and television personalities
• Wind blowing equipment away
• Realising the cylinders you brought are design to give oxygen to hamsters and are flow rate limited as a result.
• Forgetting to bring the payload and having to drive back to get it
• Forgetting to bring the balloon and having to walk back to get it
• GPS gremlins messing with GPS lock
• Cameramen asking if you can fill the balloon again because they missed it first time
• Waiting for the gas to be delivered.
• Discovering to your surprise that the launch field is bereft of mains sockets so you can't login to your tracker to start up the scripts.