Ham Radio Guys Take Photos from 22 Miles Up There

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Photo by Southern Alberta Balloon Launch Experiment #3

Some ordinary guys like you and I just made themselves extraordinary by pulling off a cool trick of taking pictures from 22 miles up there, at the very edge of space.

These chaps (who simply affix their call signs to their names because they’re ham radio guys) include Brian VE6JBJ, Barry VE6SBS, Tony VA6TNY, and James VE6SRV of Canada and they call their project the SABLE-3, for Southern Alberta Balloon Launch Experiment #3.

What they did was mount a Nikon Coolpix P2 digital camera a short distance down from a balloon and flew the balloon on August 11, 2007 until it reached the very edge of space – 117,597 ft or 22.27 miles – where the air is so thin it can’t anymore stop the balloon from bursting.

The camera was set to take one picture a minute and in all it took 150 images during its 2 ½ -hour flight. The camera parachuted back to earth. It was equipped with an electronic tracker just in case, but the recovery crew was there in minutes after the camera landed.

The images collected were just breathtaking. Way to go, guys!

Photo by Southern Alberta Balloon Launch Experiment #3

[Site: sbszoo.com]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.