Page 13 - Cluster Balloon News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Deeply, it could lose reception. if it falls into water, that would be very bad. a lot of things can go wrong. >> until they recover the craft, it will be a mystery as to what the camera captures. fortunately, it lands only 30 miles north of the launch site. and they're able to retrieve the footage. >> to be totally honest, we got a little sick watching it. because we were eating it and watching it at our kitchen table the first time. and we were so focused on the screen and eating at the same time. and it's whooshes around. >> but once it reaches the stratosphere, everything levels out. >> we...

Blow up one balloon. we don't want to blow them up all the way because we want room for them to expand. >> after all the balloons are staged, we put them in clusters of five. then you start assembling the groups of five into larger assemblies of 15 or 20. >> once everything checks out, couch kisses his wife and, with cameras rolling, begins the ascent. >> for the most part, i can't steer myself. that's what i like about this little cluster ballooning thing. you just go where the winds take you. >> the thing you wouldn't realize is how peaceful it is up there. he's traveling at the same speed o...

Home, and that made kind of a hard case and kind of made it this hamburger shape that was very aerodynamic. >> we spray-painted it so we could see it if it fell in the forest. it was traffic cone paint, so it really stood out. >> although the neon paint will make it easier to spot, they will need something much more dependable if they want to find it. >> an iphone seemed to have the best app to track the balloon. it gives you longitude and latitude but altitude as well. >> if you lost your phone, you would have where to track it. and we could follow it. >> next to the camera was a little hd ca...

Is stretched to its absolute maximum capacity. it was about 22 feet in diameter. it's enormous. a little craft below it. >> it got like that big. because the pressure lightens as you get up. there isn't a lot of oxygen. and the air is very thin. >> the pressure of the helium inside the balloon is now much greater than the surrounding air pressure. so it continues to expand until finally the balloon pops and the craft comes plummeting back to earth at more than 100 miles an hour. >> so the parachute deploys maybe 30 seconds after the balloon bursts. it doesn't do anything until it gets to heavi...

Traveled in what's called a cluster balloon. >> i call cluster ballooning simply a way to get up in the air with a group of balloons. some people would use weather balloons. i've never done that. party balloons seem real dependable. the funny thing is usually i use a lawn chair because it's comfortable and i can recline it and i can lean back. it's kind of redneck, and i'm kind of redneck. >> there are some federal aviation rules to follow. but remarkably, as long as couch's aircraft stays under 254 pounds, he isn't required to have a pilot's license nor is he required to register with the faa...