A Brooklyn father/son team decided to do a little science experiment involving an iPhone, an HD camera, a weather balloon, and a takeout box. Their goal was to capture footage of space. And they did. Space and our atmosphere can be pretty harsh, so they put hand warmers on the interior of the ramped up takeout box to insulate the iPhone and camera from the unbelievably cold temperatures and 150 mph winds.
The helium balloon made the journey upwards and made it about 19 miles (100,000 feet) before finally popping due to the low pressure. You can hear some audio interference as well (partly due to the iPhone trying to acquire a GPS signal). After popping, the device made its journey back towards the Earth at an amazing 150 mph even with a parachute attached!
They'd attached a note inside offering a reward for whoever found it to return it, but surprisingly, they caught a GPS signal and found the package in a tree about 30 miles away from the original launch site. Hit the jump for an awesome video showing the black sky above the atmosphere!
[Brooklyn Space Program via NY Mag]
Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.
