Satellite over 1 million, Lauch and control systems over 1 million, Watching some students get a camera up there for $170 dollars. PRICELESS!

Ok So I admit, with the title of this story I am ripping off master-card for no reason, and at the same time over-exaggerating what these students achieved. Comparing launching a digital camera up into the outer atmosphere (28 kilometers above the earth is as high as the camera got) does not really compare with launching a satellite into orbit, but still it is a really cool thing to have achieved.
Basically what these students did was fill a weather balloon with helium and attach to it a Styrofoam beer cooler. Inside of this they placed a Cannon A470 camera and programmed it to take photos every few seconds. The students also placed inside a mobile phone with GPS capabilities, to ensure they could find the container when it landed. The final touches being a parachute that opened when the balloon popped and a pair of winter gloves to protect both camera and phone from the -40 degree temperatures of the outer atmosphere.
The flight took just over 4 hours with the cooler taking approximately 40 minutes to land from the outer atmosphere with the parachute attached. All this was completed for $170 USD (116 euro), an amazing achievement to get some great photography.
I know myself as a young-en and even today I still dream about launching rockets, this is right up there with those ideas, to be able to get something to that level for that price is an amazing feat. I take my hat off to these guys.
Just to prove how cool this stuff all is, here is a photo of the camera they used:


If you would like to visit their website to see how you yourself could make a similar project then visit http://space.1337arts.com/

Below is a time lapse Video of the event.. enjoy..