Hutterites In Space
by Transmontanus, 5 September 2007
Here is a photograph taken from about 20 miles above the prairies by a cheap digital camera fitted inside a little box stuffed with styrofoam, hanging from a helium balloon with a GPS tracker attached.
It began as a school science project for Grade 6-8 students at the Hand Hills Hutterite Colony in Alberta. Teacher Tony Rafaat thought it would be a fun project for the kids. After a couple of tries, and with the help of some of his ham-radio buddies, Tony launched the balloon from a backyard in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, and up it went, and it kept on going.
And now we can all enjoy the results via the Worldwide Interwebs.
Ordinary blokes did this. Which is to the say the world isn’t all going to hell in a handcart.
Wednesday 5 September 2007 at 7:56
Thirty six kilometres is not space, but near as you can get without a rather large firework moving your payload. At that altitude atmospheric pressure is less than one hundredth the pressure at sea level, hence the black sky. And with the clear curvature of the Earth it certainly gives the impression of being above the planet.
That is one impressive school science project, and the pictures are amazing.