The Stratoscopes were two balloon-borne astronomical telescopes which flew from the 1950s to the 1970s and observed in the optical and infrared regions of the spectrum.

It was conceived by Martin Schwarzschild and built by the Perkin Elmer Corporation with funding provided by the Office of Naval Research.

Schwarzschild used the telescope to study the turbulence and granulation in the Sun's photosphere.

This larger project proved to be beyond the ability of the university-led research team funded by ONR and, later, the National Science Foundation, so was managed by NASA as a beginning of its scientific ballooning program led by Nancy Grace Roman.

On early flights of Stratoscope II, photographic film was used, but this was soon replaced by television detectors.