BETTII Balloon Mission Ends in Failure “At the conclusion of the mission Friday, June 9, NASA conducted an analysis of atmospheric conditions and a survey of the operational area as part of a safety analysis in preparation for flight termination. Once the balloon reached a safe flight termination area, characterized by sparse population but still relatively accessible via roads, flight controllers at CSBF sent flight termination commands to separate the […]

Ron Garan’s Next Adventure Will Be At The Edge of Space, SpaceRef “The last time Ron Garan saw the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space was from his vantage point aboard the International Space Station. The next time he will see this sight will be from inside the capsule of World Views’ high altitude balloon at the edge of space. Unlike both of his trips to and […]

Video: Lego Space Shuttle Flies To The Edge of Space, NASAHackSpace “My Lego tribute to the end of the space shuttle era. Proving that although retired, this machine can still fly, albeit in toy form. The launch took place from central Germany and reached a max altitude of 35000m. A 1600g meteo balloon filled with helium was used alongside a GoPro Hero, Spot GPS and of course Lego Space Shuttle […]

Boing Boing: “Chris sez, “My name is Chris Peterson. I run web communications for MIT Admissions and have been a loyal BB reader for years. For the last several years we have been sending our admitted students their acceptance letters in cardboard tubes. First because we sent a poster, but now it’s its own thing. 2012 is the anniversary of an old MIT balloon hack, so we put a letter […]

CosmoCam is an internet interactive video camera system designed for use onboard satellites and stratospheric balloon missions. Cosmocam is being offered as a tool for both inflight monitoring of satellite structure deployment as well as the enlightenment of students and others who are outside the professional scientific community. Live video from CosmoCam aboard a balloon in flight via NASAHackSpace

This photo shows Space Shuttle Atlantis punching a hole in the sky on its way to orbit. The image was taken on 8 July 2011 from a high altitude balloon flown by students and volunteers at Quest For Stars. Larger image here. Additional photos from STS-135 and earlier shuttle missions can be found here.

Keith’s note: Yes, that is indeed the steady, iconic voice of George Diller doing the countdown.

Images were taken at approximately 64,000 ft. More to follow. More information at Questforstars.com. Additional photos are online here at Twitpic. Larger version of this image.

Keith’s note: This photo was taken during the STS-133 mission. Shuttle and ISS crew members pose with a printout of one of the photos taken of the Discovery’s ascent into space by the Robonaut-1 balloon flown by Quest for Stars in collaboration with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. Larger view. – Video: Robonaut-1: Time Lapse View: Entire flight from Liftfoff to Touchdown – Educational Balloon Provides Space Shuttle […]

“Rise to the edge of space, freefall for 50,000 feet, fly through clouds, and land gently in bushes” Educational Balloon Provides Space Shuttle Launch Images and Video From Over 110,000 feet “A balloon with a student-oriented payload shot high resolution photos and video from an altitude of over 110,000 feet of Space Shuttle Discovery as it climbed into space.”