Page 36 - Robert Harrison News Today

Why did you send this into space? >> basically i wanted to take some pictures of my house initially. i thought id use a helium balloon to do that. i thought id attach cameras to the helium balloon. i slept overnight and decided id cut the tether and keep track of the camera and get pictures like from an airline really. >> it doesnt have a transmitter, right, the camera? >> no. the camera doesnt have a transmitter on. we have the $100 ebay camera. we have the tracker and radio traumatic transmitt...

>> basically if anyone finds it on the ground. if something had gone wrong and the electronics hadnt worked, someone may find it on the ground. with all these terrorist problems, you dont want is someone getting carried away. we put that information on there and make it easy for people to know who it is and phone up me. >> i mentioned when i was telling viewers we were going to talk to you, this stuff costs nasa millions of dollars. are you getting phone dpraucallm space agencies? our government...

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Black. >> reporter: with your own photographs as proof. mike taibbi, nbc news, new york. joining us is the self-pro claimed computer geek robert harrison via skype. what were you thinking when this worked, when you said, a ha, i did it. >> i was astounded. the pictures speak for themself. to get pictures of the curvature of the earth and blackness of space. i wasnt expecting to see pictures by that but i was bowled over by the quality of them. >> and you used the gps to find this after the par...

Would rival anything from a multi-million dollar space program. robert harrison from england rigged the contraption together. his plan was to have the balloon go into the atmosphere and take pictures. he said he was amazed it even worked. >> i was astounded when i saw the pictures. they speak for themselves. to get images like that showing the earth and blackness of space, i wasnt expecting to see pictures like that. >> hows that for hot shots? a parachute brought it down and then he used gps to...

Relying on a lot of technology, gps technology and google maps. that technology cost millions of thousands to put in place. without those millions of pounds spent, i couldnt do this. we do need this money to be spent, but it means i can do it cheaply. >> what has it been like since you learned it work, the media attention. have you gotten inquiries from the british government or any governments for help with the space program. >> nothing from the government. the amount of media attention is phen...

Virginia city line. targeting apparently a republican county office. well have more details as the information comes in. a $600 gps, $100 digital camera, weather balloon and some duct tape yielded this. spectacular images from space that would rival anything from a multi-million dollar space program. nbcs mike taibbi has the story. >> reporter: 38-year-old robert harrison is a self-confessed computer geek who said it was boredom that got him thinking a while back about space exploration, photo...

>> reporter: at 22 miles high, the stratosphere at the edge of space, the balloon burst as expected. with that cheap camera capturing images like these, a parachute carried it back to earth where harrison used the gps to find it. he may have been the first hobbyist to try it now several dozen enthusiasts going for the cheap thrill. cheap as in inexpensive but useful. >> liftoff. >> reporter: pictures like these have often been taken aboard the space shuttle. each mission costing nasa $400 millio...