Page 8 - Cluster Balloon News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

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 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 ...

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. 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 heavier air. >> at one point, it rocked head over heels. even though it didn't have head or heels. it was just like that. it was pretty amazing because there's a lot of reasons it wouldn't work. >> i've shot a lot of things. tha...

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 it was a little hd camera that 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 tra...

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 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 star...

>> despite missing the mark, he knows he's still broken his previous record. so couch prepares to land. >> you got to have a way to make sure you can get these balloons popped on the way down. my preference is a daisy red rider bb gun. >> it only takes a couple of balloons to change him from ascending to descending. >> i'm coming in on a gradual descent. i'm looking for an open area. no fences or wires or houses or roads. that's what i'm hoping for. >> couch touches down in cambridge, idaho, to a hero's welcome. his new record is 235 miles. >> so i think the next flight i'm going to get enough...