One small step for man, one giant leap for MSU.
On Thursday afternoon, an MSU professor and students sent a weather balloon into space at the Detroit/Pontiac, Mich. Weather Forecast Office in White Lake, Mich., that contained five high-definition cameras and a GPS unit in hopes to make a documentary of a behind-the-scenes look at the process of sending a weather balloon into space.
Telecommunication, information studies and media professor Troy Hale said the point of the project was to give students hands-on experience.
“The point is to have fun while teaching documentary film classes,” Hale said. “It gets students out the door, doing some of the stuff that they learn in classes in a real-world environment.”
Media and information junior Erik Tobeler said he got involved in the project to see if making documentaries might be something he wants to pursue as a career.
“I’ve been really motivated to get involved as much as I can,” Tobeler said. “I’m interested in filming documentaries, so I want to spread myself over a bunch of different things to see what I really like — narrowing my choices.”
After sending the weather balloon up, Hale said he was afraid they might not be able to retrieve the camera.
“Today we are having a hard time finding the GPS signal,” Hale said. “We’re hoping it’s too high to pick up the GPS right now. The National Weather Service launched its own (balloon) today, and it landed in Lake Erie because of the strong wind. Our balloon is heavier. … We expect it to come down in Canada somewhere.”
Media and information junior Kirk Mason said he wanted to work on this project because MSU never has created a documentary on the subject.
“I sent rockets up into space when I was 10, but I’ve never done anything like this before,” Mason said. “I am excited because we’ve been working on it for so long and we finally got to send it up into space.”
Not only did Hale decide to do this for a documentary, but he said he also loved the idea of getting as close to being an astronaut as he could.
“I’ve always had an interest in space,” Hale said. “But I’ve never been good at science. I’m good at photography. This allows me to feel like an astronaut feels.”
Hale said he has big plans in store for the project.
“We’re getting the process down now, so hopefully next year at halftime we can launch one of the balloons,” Hale said. “The bottom camera will show the whole stadium, and that will be really cool.”
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