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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 camera that's used for sky diving stunts and motor sports and things like that. the whole craft with the camera and tracking system is within the four-pound limit for faa regulations. >> august 11th, 2010, newburgh, new york. after eight months of prep work, la...

Great countdown. >> ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero, blast off! >> we cut off the balloon. >> it started rocking wildly like crazy. it was 25 feet a second. it was pretty fast. after about two minutes, it disappeared into the clouds. >> they track the craft's coordinates. but that's no guarantee they'll be able to retrieve it. >> the batteries in the phone could freeze. it could just not give out signal and we'll never find it. if it falls into anything that would block the transmission, it falls into very dense trees too deeply, it could lose reception. if it f...

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 were shooting from about 80,000 feet. twice as high as a plane. three times as high as a plane. >> according to his iphone, the craft peaks at 100,000 feet or nearly 19 miles above the earth on its 95-minute voyage. >> at the very end, the balloon is stretch...

A gas station owner lives out his childhood fantasy, floating nearly 18,000 feet above the earth tethered to dozens of brightly colored balloons. >> some of my best memories are as a child. you see a little cloud. i wish i could get on that cloud and float. it's a peaceful experience. >> this is not just a flight of fancy for kent couch. in 2008, he tries to break his own record for number of miles 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. pa...

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 of the wind. even when he was moving at 50 miles an hour, he could set a napkin on his knee, and it wouldn't go anywhere. >> it's just like you're floating on a cloud. you start living a moment of what you dreamed as a child. >> nearly nine hours later, couch crosses the state line into ...