Back in 2013, following months of planning a team of Stanford University students launched a GoPro camera that was attached with a weather balloon to the space’s edge. As per the plan, it was supposed to float up to about 19 miles over Earth and then parachute back down. The balloon also had a phone that was programmed to broadcast a signal once the camera made it back to land. The idea was to make use of this signal to locate the camera and then witness the amazing footage that it had captured.
The hitch came up when upon returning to Earth, the package didn’t beam back home. The team assumed that the programming of the phone went wrong or maybe they had made some miscalculation while determining balloon’s trajectory. Anyway, the team gave up on the project.
Two years later, a hiker stumbled across the phone and then tracked the owners down by making use of the memory card that still contained all of the incredible footage. According to one of the students, the phone fell in an area where there was no signal coverage and therefore, was not able to send any signal back to the team. The hiker was an AT&T employee, if you must know.
The launch had taken place close to Grand Canyon back in 2013. The balloon took about 1.5hr before it reached the highest point at about just a bit more than 18 miles before popping. It fell for half an hour before making contact with the ground.
Check out the video below
