Space is the place reserved for the special few who spend their whole life in training waiting, hoping to become another person sent out to explore its vastness. This is what I used to believe until I heard of a man named Robert Harrison.
Harrison, of the United Kingdom, created a contraption using a standard digital camera attached to a helium balloon, which allows for capturing some amazing shots of Earth.
Harrison, on a budget of UK £500 (roughly $744.15 in US dollars), managed to send his home-made contraption 22 miles - or 116,160 feet - above the earth's surface from his back garden.
The standard digital camera is housed in a polystyrene and duct tape box. Besides the camera a small computer lies within the box along with a radio transmitter. The computer controls the camera making it take pictures every five minutes. The radio transmitter gives the altitude as well as location of the contraption. You wouldn’t want to take all these beautiful pictures if you couldn’t find where the box would end.
This was not Harrison’s first attempted in getting out of our atmosphere. His first attempt consisted of a remote controlled helicopter to take aerial shots. Fortunately Harrison wasn’t deterred by his initial failures.
He began investigating high altitude weather balloons following his helicopter attempts. This project has become to be called Icarus I, which started last October.
"My family and friends thought I was a bit mad at first but they were suitably impressed with the results," said the married father of three from Highburton, West Yorkshire.
The results are quite impressive. So much so that NASA has been in communication with Harrison. They couldn’t believe such amazing pictures could be captured through this medium.
Since his first success Harrison has sent up a dozen capsules into space to take more shots.
“People think this is something that costs millions but it doesn’t,” says Harrison.
This is a great showing of how sheer perseverance and desire can be rewarded. Failure with a helicopter only leads to success with a balloon. Man is determined to go where they are told they cannot and Harrison is no exception to this rule.
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