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Subscribe to RSSTech-savvy amateurs have been capturing video from the edge of space for more than a year, using cameras lofted into the stratosphere by weather balloons. But now it's gotten to the point that a Brooklyn cinematographer and his 7-year-old son can pull off the stunt.
After eight months' worth of experimentation and low-altitude test runs, Luke Geissbuhler and his son Max sent up an instrument package with an HD video camera and an iPhone from Newburgh, N.Y., to the 100,000-foot level (19 miles high, or 30.5 kilometers). From that height, you can see the curving Earth and the atmosphere's glow beneath the black sky of space.
What goes up must come down, however: At the end of a 70-minute ascent, the balloon burst - and the parachute-equipped, foam-cushioned craft hurtled back to Earth. That's where the iPhone came in. Thanks to its GPS capability, the Geissbuhlers could track their "Space Balloon" experiment and find it in the dead of night, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the launch point. The rest is near-space history, as you can see from the video above and from the Geissbuhlers' website. Next up: a how-to book written for kids and parents.
More near-space adventures:
- Chair floats to final frontier
- Biggest airship gets inflated
- $45 cameras capture stunning images
- Military testing near-space balloons
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," Alan's book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
awesome great job team!
Great job, but hardly the edge of space. Space begins at 62 miles or 100km, so they may 1/3 the way there.
oh, come on! why spoil the fun every time with this technicality!! this was a great job and looked like great time!
Very cool stuff. Way to go father-son duo!
duplicate
Great Job keep them into science, But use a radar reflector next time I didn't see one.
I have been saying for years now, the best thing to do with an iphone is get it off of this planet!!..this is exactly what I have talking about...the tech is now pretty much in the hands of the average (well slightly above average in this country)...super great job, I am watching carefully. The westminster hamfest this weekend will have a small ballon launch but I don't think they are shooting for this altitude....still, the tech is here and et can call home for easy pickup after landing! 1/3? yes I expect we will soon see craft that is ballon launched, rocket assisted and eazilly tops 100k(x3)....nuff for now, keep reaching for the stars...
I agree, the iPhone's technological capabilities would make it really cool in space and for future exploration trips such as this, what an incredible invention it is!
http://www.grahambirdsall.com/iphone
It's misleading. They had a fisheye lense on the camera and the image makes it look like
we see the curvature of the earth. I highly doubt 20 miles is high enough to see the curvature
like that.
Every time I fly commercially, I can see the curvature of the earth out the window of the airplane. You don't have to get super duper high to see that. Yes I just said super duper. :)
nwmike is an a-hole.
You can see the curvature of the earth from the Empire State Building
Excellent video, smart dad, who would have thought out something as brilliant as that!!! Now his son is going to have something memorable for the rest of his life!
This is what a father and son should be doing! Great job!