Erich Leath and Terry Presley, a pair of Texan photographers, have combined their photography and DIY skills to capture images from near-space. For their first launch, the team paired a Nikon D300s with a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens, which were then rigged inside a beer cooler with a plexiglass window. A 20-ft helium weather balloon and parachute were then added, along with a GPS module to track the craft. Thirteen weeks after the project was conceived, the first balloon was released near Lubbock, Texas, and rose for roughly 2.5 hours. However, higher-altitude images suffered from ice build-up on the plexiglass — the pair speculate that at its peak the balloon reached 100,000ft (roughly 19 miles).
The Cygnus Project captures near-space images with a Nikon D300s
The results have been added to Erich’s Flickr photostream, along with plenty of details on the construction, launch and future projects they plan to undertake including a plan to get some video footage next time. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, the makeshift shell ensured that the camera was recovered unharmed — impressive for a Wal-Mart beer cooler.
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