A weather balloon launched this past Sunday by a Michigan State University instructor and his students rose more than 100,000 feet into the Earth’s atmosphere, gathering amazing video footage along the way, before popping and gently floating down beneath a parachute.
The balloon took off from Grand Rapids around 10 a.m. Sunday, traveled about 60 miles and was recovered several hours later in a tree near Holland, Mich.
The balloon was equipped with five HD cameras – three pointing outwards to get a 360 view, one pointing up and one down.
The video collected from the journey will eventually be displayed at a presentation at Lansing’s Impression 5 Museum. The presentation will allow museum-goers to sit in the middle of five projection screens and feel as if they are riding the balloons into space.
The project is also part of a documentary film being produced by instructor Troy Hale and his students.
Hale teaches telecommunication and journalism courses in the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies and Media and is also a Media Sandbox faculty member.
Media sandbox is an integrated media arts program that includes a media arts curriculum, visiting artists, special events and creative projects by faculty and students. It is designed to fill the growing demand for graduates with creative and multimedia skills and experience.
To see what the balloon’s cameras captured, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FRLoFHdUaQ&feature=youtu.be.