Teenagers send balloon to edge of space and photograph the Earth.

[mckitterick]

Why didn't I have a high-school teacher like this? Wow!

Click the image to see the story.

Basically, a teacher and a few kids tied a cheap digital camera to a weather balloon, sent it up, took photos, and retrieved the camera a few miles away... after it had flown to over 100,000 feet. Here's a shot looking down as the balloon was ascending:

Click the image to see the story.

Okay, who all wants to build their own space-balloon now? I sure do.

Chris

Comments

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

I saw that story.

Incredible.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Very cool, thanks for the link!

Thanks for posting the photos

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

The whole idea makes me smile and the photos they took are breathtaking, and astonishing because of the sim[licity of the way they got them.

Re: Thanks for posting the photos

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I know! It's inspiring.

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

super kewl!

[cba1282zyx.livejournal.com]

I think you not have a teacher like that in high school makes the world a safer place.

[orin2.livejournal.com]

I had a really cool Physics teacher who had us make a hovercraft from old vacuum cleaners. But that was not this cool.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Whoah, that's pretty cool, too.

[ryltar.livejournal.com]

We built rockets in my high school physics class... though we didn't attach cameras to them, that would have been awesome.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I started the Ortonville Science Society, and one of our programs was rocket-building. Most of them blew up or burned on the launch pad, though; if we'd had a better budget, we might have been dangerous.

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

You were that high school teacher. You just weren't employed by the school system.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd known about weather balloons!

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

Ulp. That second photo made my vertigo kick in so hard, I almost lost my lunch. :(