Two years ago, a group of friends attached a GoPro camera, and a smartphone, to a high-altitude balloon to take their own “space” footage of the Grand Canyon. High-altitude balloons, commonly known as weather balloons, are usually filled with helium or hydrogen, and are a relatively cheap method of sending electronic equipment into the stratosphere. Once they reach a specific height, generally between 60-120,000 feet (18-37 km), they burst, causing their load to plummet back to earth.
The mentioned group was, unfortunately, not able to find their camera after it fell to earth, until a hiker recently found their equipment and had it returned to them. The result is some impressive footage of the camera’s trip to near space and back. Here is their story.
It is not the first and only time that someone has tried sending a camera up in the stratosphere, as you can see in the videos below, sometimes even with a passenger on board.
