Bear-4 at max altitude

[Cumulonimbus82]

mmmmmhh, earth...

[lilman1230]

isnt there a prize for sending an object into outer space? and to the moon? if the gps works all the way up there, don't you think there is any way to put a rocket on it to send something all the way up and out of the atmosphere? put a camera on it and watch the video later

[AeroNevin]

This is THE coolest thing I have EVER seen. What a neat idea you guys its just awesome! Well done really well done. To see that an ordinary citizen has gotten pics of near-space with a balloon and a simple camera is what its all about! Stunning pics from up there. Much respect :-)

[counterafk]

hey, but how did you get the camera to not break, it the balloon bursts, im kinda new to see this.. pretty cool man. subscribed..

[hrford]

I let go of a balloon with a camera attached once. The view was amazing at the top, you could see the entire living room!!

[navalink]

Can't to fly my own balloon in 2012

[Pyroscopy]

see there is an eriee sound in space! too bad our frail bodies can't withstand the awesomeness that is SPACE!

[pheenix42]

Wow...how far away from launch was the retrieval point?? I presume you had to use a tracker of some sort to find it again?

[Pyroscopy]

yeah they where waiting at the bottom just yards from where it landed...I saw the vid

[myvids2000]

What was the size of the balloon at launch and the size at the time of burst?

[imjus1rockinout2]

beautiful

[navalink]

You said it

[rocyodotcom]

8:25 nice

[jperih]

wow.. just to listen to high-altitude... it's peaceful. Would be nice to have 2.5 hrs of that natural space sound.

[MattyS50]

wow, your actually right. up at this altitude there would be all natural, space sound.

[txfirehawk]

over 100K = space in my book

[sypha0x]

The Thermosphere is over 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit no wonder the balloon pops and yes over 100k you can see aurora borealis and this is where NASA shuttles orbit

[hrford]

@sypha0x Even though the temperature is so high, you wouldn't feel warm in the thermosphere, because it is so near vacuum that there is not enough contact with the few atoms of gas to transfer much heat. A normal thermometer would read significantly below 0 °C. The balloon pops due to the pressure difference between inside to outside.

[sypha0x]

interesting thanks =] 4 info

[htfkid2000]

@sypha0x its actually cause the pressure difference of the Thermosphere causes the balloon to expand! then it cant expand no more and it pops! BTW it IS that hot but the difference in pressure it wont affect much!

[p11ma]

which camera is it?

[LazyCoder]

I wonder what the odds are that it would hit a plane on the way up or down... How much trouble would you get into then... just curious! lol

[GarrettSloan75]

The plane would never hit it...

1. NavCanada (The Canadian FAA) was notified of the launch via a NOTAM so they informed all pilots that might be in the area at the time we were there,

2. the package wasn't very large, I think this one was "just" over the size they worry about if it was to get sucked into a engine. It would most likely just get chewed up and spit out.

3: Big Sky Theory

[LazyCoder]

Ah ok.

lol big sky theory...

[Level1Orc]

Wow...listening to "Space Oddity" by David Bowie as I watch this.

Here am I sitting in a tin can,

Far above the world.

Planet Earth is blue,

And there's nothing I can do...

[joshuatristancho]

Awesome!

[AlphaGodDamn4]

Majestic does not do this video justice as an adjective.

[2528997]

How did you figure out/plan how the parachute would open?

I've gone skydiving once, and there are quite a number of scenarios that could play out if the chute doesn't open properly.

Just wondering how you guys overcame that obstacle?

[ve6srv]

The parachute is deployed all the time. However, with a near vacuum at that altitude the parachute doesn't do a whole lot., hence the nasty tumbling at the end. The payload falls at about 90 mph at first. By the time it gets down to 50,000 feet, the parachute starts to do it's job. Going against that is the remnants of the balloon that like to tangle in the shroud lines. Worst case scenario, our payload plummets to the ground with a roman candle streamer. It would make a 2 pound "splat"!

[nishkarsh26]

awesome beauty.

[TheSuperProfessional]

How is this possible ? I mean that camera would of flown to another state .. this is either unbelieveable or fake.

[CloudPulse]

Wow.

[GarrettSloan75]

This is a extended excerpt from the maximum altitude of our bear-4 balloon launch, check out my other video:

watch?v=Lie0diOhfdg

to see a short version of the whole flight.

The other video also has links to our project site and the Daily Planet coverage of our flights.

[2528997]

Is there any way for us to view the ENTIRE flight? I understan that would be about 4 hours long, but how about uploading to Google Video? I've seen videos there go to about 3hours.

Or maybe make it available for download?

Might be asking too much, eh?

[GarrettSloan75]

Its not asking too much, if you look at my other video's, or my info, I've made a 2.5hr dvd of the flight availiable for a minimal donation to help pay for more flights. The "good" video is about 2.5 hrs total, part of the way up and down has the camera lens frozen over and wasn't worth posting.

[nozzzzy]

I would love to have the full high-quality version of this, how long is it frozen over for? if its unreasonably long and not worth it let me know =P I feel like i missed out on the good parts for some reason though.

[HazakyProductions]

its unbelieveable

[afxgrin]

ummm it probably did fly into another state, however, it was launched from Canada, so maybe another province.

But what's so unbelievable about this - filling a balloon with gases lighter than air?

[ve6srv]

It can't fly to another state... here in Canada we have provinces. The payload landed 90 miles away. The next province is 135 miles downrange. Do a little research...

[bandmassa]

I can't help wondering, but how high could you get a camera if you put it (and a transmitter) on top of a model rocket, dragged that to 33km under a ballon and fired up the rocket when the balloon pops. (Maybe a weight release and trigger?) The reason I suggest a transmitter is the height you'd get with the right model rocketry, you might not get the camera back ;-)

[oz9aec]

There is actually a group in Romania who base their whole launch vehicle concept on lifting their rocket to 15-20 km altitude using hot air balloon and launching it from there. They want to go all the way to the moon :-)

Try to google arcaspace if you want to find out more about their project.

[pcgamingman]

guys that was awesome. Good job and try to get even higher next time!!!!!!!