Students from a high school in San Diego are teaming up with Quest for Stars to take potentially rare photos of the last shuttle flight. Shuttle Discovery is set to launch this afternoon. The students have used a simple weather balloon to rig up a camera to take pictures from the top down of the shuttle leaving the atmosphere. It’s supposed to go at least 80,000 feet up (somewhere in the Mesosphere) and keep going until it pops. The camera will then parachute to safety.
A previous photo from Quest for Stars
This is such a great opportunity for the students and I can’t wait to see the amazing photos. I’d be willing to bet that more than one student goes on to pursue a career in science.
This last shuttle mission (for Discovery) has an interesting payload. The astronauts are taking a robot butler to the International Space Station.
R2 (Star Wars reference?) is supposed to work side-by-side with the astronauts, but the sci-fi fan in me is instantly suspicious that Robonaut2 will become our future mechanized overlord.
