Up, up and away... to infinity and beyond! (From Worcester News)

Up, up and away... to infinity and beyond!

9:30am Saturday 8th September 2012 in News By Elizabeth Sweetman, @lizsweetmanWN #worcsnews

THESE stunning out-of-this-world pictures were taken with nothing more than a camera and a balloon.

The Canon A570 camera was attached to a high-altitude balloon which was released by student Adam Cudworth from a field near his home in Uphampton, near Ombersley.

Despite the windy conditions during launch, the flight went well, with the balloon reaching a maximum altitude of 33,592m (110,210 ft).

The latex balloon, which measured nearly two metres in diameter when inflated with helium, is similar to those used by the Met Office to measure the weather.

Attached to it was a parachute and an insulated box carrying a camera, GPS, radio and microprocessor to track the balloon’s progress, and two temperature sensors.

Two small but high-performance solar panels were also attached to the box.

Following its launch, Adam tracked the balloon south over Worcester before it headed towards Pershore, then Evesham before finally bursting near Broadway. He recovered it from a field about 20 miles north of Oxford.

Adam, a former RGS Worcester pupil who is studying economics at Nottingham University, said: “The onboard camera captured some great photos. The exposure settings were different to before, which led to clearer photos at altitude.

“The onboard video camera recorded great footage close to the ground after launch, however the lens fogged up at about 3km in altitude and got progressively worse throughout the flight. I think this was due to the lens casing allowing moisture in.”

This was the 19-year-old’s third balloon launch. In July last year, we reported that his first launch ranked second in the UK for reaching the highest altitude.

The balloon reached an impressive height of 35,824m (117,533ft), which was 382m below the UK record recorded by the UK High Altitude Society. A balloon that he launched in February this year reached 29,958m and recorded temperatures of minus 63.1C during the flight.