The making of "The Stratos-Sphere Project" by Edouard Janssens

Project Stratos-Sphere is a photographic fine-art project created and launched in 2011 by the belgian photographer Edouard Janssens to shoot the curve of our planet and the thin atmosphere we’re living in, from the best possible point of vue, 33 km high, deep into the stratosphere. For real-time status updates, follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Here is the project description in a nutshell :

• We launch big meteorological balloons filled with helium 

• A capsule with cameras (photos & video) is suspended to the balloon 

• The cameras are programmed to take pictures every 7 seconds, during 2.5 hours 

• The balloon goes up to 33 km high, deep into the stratosphere, where it explodes after 1.5 hour 

• A parachute slow down the capsule back to Earth during a 1 hour fall 

• Three GSM and satellite tracking devices inside the capsule helps us to recover the whole thing, 2,5 hours later, around 50 to 100 km from the launch base. ( via stratos-sphere.com )

Making-of video by John Janssens.

Text and video by Edouard Janssens