Balloon Flight Into Near Space

In June, a group of San Fran­cis­co-based design­ers and engi­neers launched a bal­loon into near space, cap­tur­ing the flight with two cam­eras that went along for the ride. Two hours into the flight, and at 80,000 feet of alti­tude, the bal­loon gives up the ghost and comes crash­ing back down to Earth. It all hap­pens around the 2:20 mark of the video, and the images are … um … out of this world. Amaz­ing­ly, all of the equip­ment onboard sur­vives the fall – cam­eras and all – thanks to the para­chute.

This was actu­al­ly the sec­ond bal­loon launch under­tak­en by this group. You can see images from their first launch here. Next time, they’re hop­ing to reach above 100,000 feet. And, yes, it’s final­ly worth not­ing that they con­tact­ed the FAA before let­ting these bal­loons take flight.

This clip was sent our way by an anony­mous view­er. If he/she wants to get in touch, we have a copy of Eat, Pray, Love ready to send your way.