Historic NASA Photo Recreated with a High-Altitude Balloon and Off-the-Shelf Electronics

In 1984, American astronaut Bruce McCandless II became the first person in history to complete an untethered space walk. The feat stands out, not just because it marked the end of an era when people in the United States were still captivated by space exploration, but also because it resulted in one of the most spectacular photos of the 20th century. The iconic picture shows McCandless II floating freely in space, with the curvature of the Earth clearly visible in the background.

Dave Akerman wanted to replicate that photo, and thanks to modern technology he was able to do it pretty well. Obviously, Akerman couldn’t launch himself into space, but he did the next best thing by sending a model into space on a high-altitude balloon. The model was a vintage kit originally produced by Revell USA in 1984, which Akerman was able to find unused on eBay.

After assembling and painting the model, Akerman set out to build the camera and tracking system. To guarantee a great shot, a total of four cameras were placed in the payload boxes: one Gitup Git2 and one Raspberry Pi Zero W with a normal lens, and one Gitup Git2 and one Raspberry Pi Zero W with a wide angle lens. The two Pi Zeros connect to a Raspberry Pi 3, which sends a live feed downlink to the ground via LoRa.

The whole payload, with a UBlox USB GPS module for tracking, was lifted to the edge of the atmosphere on a high-altitude balloon. The ballon and payload reached almost 100,000 feet before the balloon popped and it all came careening back to Earth. Once Akerman found the payload in a farmer’s field, he was able to obtain some amazing photos that do a good job of replicating McCandless II’s historic space walk.