A couple of intrepid tech students, Erich Leeth and Terry Presley have sent their Nikon
D300 camera to the edge of space strapped inside a beer cooler that
they purchased from Walmart. The duo used a weather balloon to carry
their Nikon D300 right to the edges of space and used the beer cooler to
protect it from the cold and help return it to earth in one piece.
Their spacecraft (Cygnus) was launched at 9:02am from : 33° 49′ 28″N
102° 53′ 56″W, and it touched back down to Earth at 11:56am at 33° 19′
21″N 101° 59′ 42″W, 62 miles from where it was launched. The fantastic
image below was taken 1 hour and 55 minutes into the flight. Watch a video of the launch after the jump.
The team explain:
"The camera
was traveling in a styrofoam beer cooler from Wal Mart. The cooler was
lifted into space using a 22 foot weather balloon filled with Helium. A
parachute was attached to the cooler to slow and stabilize the fall of
the cooler when the balloon eventually popped from lack of air pressure
as it rose closer to the vacuum of space.
There were some issues with frost building up on the plexiglass
shield and it actually ruined most of the images. Live and learn I
suppose. We’ll get it down next time. Most people we’ve seen do this
online take 3-6 months of planning and preparation before they launch
something. We did it in 13 days. I guess it’s only fitting that we
overlooked something. I’m just glad we found it and everything was still
in one piece!”
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