Timothy Scot Cole (born 11 November 1945) is the balloonist who designed and built the Spirit of Freedom balloon capsule.

In 2002 pilot Steve Fossett flew the Spirit of Freedom on the first successful nonstop solo circumnavigation flight.

[1] Tim Cole with John Kugler and Dennis Brown pioneered balloon design using the inexpensive, agricultural gas anhydrous ammonia.

In 2002 pilot Steve Fossett flew the Spirit of Freedom on the first successful nonstop solo circumnavigation flight.

[9] Tim Cole was the flight director for the project Two Eagles Across the Pacific by Balloon for pilots Troy Bradley and Leonid Tiukhtyaev.

[7] Cole holds two world and 26 national ballooning records and was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame.

[6]   Besides the Comstock autopilot, the gondola equipment included GPS, Inmarsat, and satellite phone backup for communications with Mission Control at Washington University in St. Louis.

[4] The unpressurized gondola used lithium batteries to power the electronic equipment and a custom heater regulating the aircraft internal temperature between 4 and 21 C (38-72 F).