Father and Son Send iPhone to Space

When most of us were kids, science projects consisted of making fake volcanoes and using potatoes to power light bulbs. That wasn't enough for a Brooklyn father and son though, as they decided to attach an iPhone to some balloons and send it to space. The two basically stuck an iPhone and an HD video camera into a takeout container, attached it to some weather balloons and then sent the device to boldly go where no phone has gone before. The result is an impressive flight into the darkness of near-space and an incredible video.

The resulting flight sees the phone travel roughly 19 miles above the surface of the Earth before the balloons pop and send the iPhone hurtling back toward the planet. Thankfully the father/son duo had the foresight to attach a parachute, so the phone gently touches down and its data recovered for all of us to enjoy.

The whole experiment is truly incredible, and a testament to just far modern technology has brought us. The "Brooklyn Space Program," as they call themselves, has successfully sent an unmanned spacecraft into Earth's upper atmosphere using tools anyone can purchase. Well done gentleman: if this doesn't win every science fair from now until that kid graduates from high school then the world is truly an unfair place.

[via BSP]