Zak/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/user2/2.pngoffline(netAirspace FAA) 10 Mar 12, 19:22
This video should make the hearts of both space flight and Lego fans jump with joy:
A Lego Space Shuttle mounted under a weather balloon climbs to 115,000 ft (35,000 m), with the whole flight captured on video.
The experiment was conducted by a Romanian student. The flight was launched from Germany, as it is rather easy to get a clearance for such flights here.
And apparently, the guy has more plans:
This is the full story on how the Space Shuttle took flight once more.
I've always been profoundly inspired by spaceflight, the Lego Shuttle was the only space program I could afford.
The story begins in mid-November 2011 with me trying to find someone to support a rocketry project of mine entitled 'October Sky', I found Steve Sammartino on twitter one night and asked and for his Skype in a PM, him thinking I was another person from the business world accepted my request.
We chated a bit and he wasn't too sure about my October Sky, then I mentioned one of the things in my 'to-do' list would be a high altitude balloon experiment.
I showed him my previous work (steam engines, a jet engine and and some rocketry) he was impressed by my passion & determination and decided to fund my cosmic experience.
We had to send something up, so after some debate Steve came up with the Lego Space Shuttle as a payload, which was a brilliant idea!. He is also teaching me valuable skills and we are progressing from something small (the Lego Shuttle), to something way bigger (Top Secret), so stay tuned!
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
ShyFlyer/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/user73/1.pngoffline(Founding Member) 10 Mar 12, 22:08
That's pretty cool. Looks like the "shuttle" picked up a bit of ice on the way up too.
My question is how do they recover it? Obviously, the balloon has a tracking device of some sort but these things can travel hundreds of miles.
Make Orwell fiction again.
Zak/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/user2/2.pngoffline(netAirspace FAA) 10 Mar 12, 22:15
It landed about 200 km / 125 miles away from the launch site, and they located it via a GPS beacon.
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
ShyFlyer/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/user73/1.pngoffline(Founding Member) 10 Mar 12, 22:24
Zak wrote:It landed about 200 km / 125 miles away...
That's it? I would have thought it would have landed further away.
Make Orwell fiction again.
Zak/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/user2/2.pngoffline(netAirspace FAA) 10 Mar 12, 22:45
Favorable winds, maybe? I don't know.
I left a comment on his blog, offering help with his future projects. He mentioned that he had problems editing the photos & videos, so maybe that is something we could assist him with. And seeing that we have both Space and Lego pros on board here, maybe there is even more we can do.
I have a ton of respect for projects like these.
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
Nosedive/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/default.pngoffline11 Mar 12, 05:58
Interesting choice of music on this one. "Welcome Home" by Radical Face.
graphic/forum/images/avatars/gallery/first/user196/1.pngoffline11 Mar 12, 17:11
Nosedive wrote:Interesting choice of music on this one. "Welcome Home" by Radical Face.
