[Russell Dawkins]

!

http://tinyurl.com/58p85v

and the set of photos on flicker:
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/arena5/sets/72157606119049987/detail/

[NewBuyer]

Amazing!  Thanks Russell. 

[nathanm]

This guy was so excited he couldn't wash!

[Bob in St. Louis]

Very cool Russell, thank you for finding and sharing the link.
Out of 300+ photos, I'd love to see more than 27.

Great stuff.
Although, I'm not sure I'd be willing to send my Nikon D40 to space and back. 

Also curious what the travel distance was? Apparently wasn't too much if the "team" was able to retrieve it. I assume that means it didn't land on the other side of the world. But I'd think the Earth would spin pretty fast when an item is at 105,000 feet.

Bob

[Russell Dawkins]

Bob,
in the first link,
http://tinyurl.com/58p85v
post #18 (page 2) describes the process by which they know where to go to retrieve the equipment. I was amazed at one description where he says he could see the balloon at 100,000 feet because it was 50 ft in diameter and how when it burst and disappeared, 40 minutes later it landed in trees across the road from where they had gone to retrieve it, based on their self-designed program for determining that.

Post #34 is also interesting.

Also, as far as how far they have to go - 12 to 120 miles. The earth's spin doesn't count for much, as the atmosphere spins with it. It had better - or else we would be dealing with over 1000mph winds at the equator!

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ahhh yes, I see.
I neglected to read the forum, I went straight to the photos in your second link.

Interesting how the balloon grows from a few feet in diameter to 50 feet at altitude (less air pressure).
Neat stuff. Thanks again Russell. 

Bob

[jon_010101]

These are much better than my iPhone pics out of airplane windows   Plus that is well into the stratosphere!  I see that they call it "space" in the forum link, but I would defend that "space" starts right above the mesopause, at ~100 km

[WerTicus]

Still it goes to show the weather sealing is pretty decent in a camera that costs ~$400 bucks now.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Bump.......

Great thread Russell, I've never stopped thinking about this one. Thanks for posting (so long ago).

> HERE < is a fellow willing to send his HD camcorder to a similar altitude of over 100,000'.
The "package" was found a short time later, only 30 miles from launch point. That still amazes me.
Fantastic video.

Enjoy..... 
Bob

[SET Man]

Hey!

  Hmmm... I see "Pentax..." in the headline of this thread but I don't any post by Wind Chaser here yet... weird

Take care,
Buddy

[Wind Chaser]

  Buddy, you're a funny guy and you're right;  I keep Pentax & Bose close to my heart.  But I didn't buy a camera until December last year, so this thread didn't catch my attention.  Fascinating stuff.

[lonewolfny42]

Wonder if the police in Newburgh, NY got any calls about a UFO siting....