KiwiSpace celebrates 50th anniversary of human spaceflight with photos from the edge of space (11 April 2011)

KiwiSpace celebrates 50th anniversary of human spaceflight with photos from the edge of space (11 April 2011)

AUCKLAND, NZ, 11-Apr-2011 – KiwiSpace Foundation has successfully launched a helium balloon above the Waikato and recovered its payload of cameras and tracking equipment.

On April 12, 1961 the Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when he boarded Vostok-1 and blasted off at 6:07am UTC (6:07pm local time). He made a single orbit of the Earth and touched down again safely 108 minutes later. KiwiSpace is honouring this historic event, by returning photos of the edge of space and the beautiful New Zealand landscape below.

The balloon was launched at 8:48am, climbed to over 51,000 feet (15.5km) before popping, and landed just east of Pirongia, near Hamilton. Recovery teams reached the payload at 11:12am and were delighted to find the payload intact and still taking pictures.

Images and video of the flight will be made available through the KiwiSpace website - http://www.kiwispace.org.nz/ (from Tuesday 12 April).

Launching a balloon from New Zealand - and recovering the payload - is not without its challenges. New Zealand has a relatively thin landmass when compared to the USA or Europe, and so predicting the wind speed and direction at high altitude has been essential to maximising the likelihood the payload returned over land. KiwiSpace also teamed up with the New Zealand amateur radio community to provide real-time tracking of the balloon, and LandSAR to assist if the payload had landed in less-accessible terrain.

CHECK STATEMENT: While MetService launches meteorological balloons regularly, KiwiSpace believes this is the first balloon launched with the goal of capturing images of New Zealand and space from very high altitudes.

The mission, excluding time volunteered by the project team, has cost around $3000, and has been funded by members and sponsors.

KiwiSpace hopes to build on this initial flight and develop a programme of launches involving schools. Students could assist with areas such as component design, flight path prediction and tracking, or experiments to accompany the payload.

This first launch was a lightweight payload of around 520 grams, containing:
• Canon digital camera, with custom firmware to provide time-lapse photography;
• GPS and altimeter that transmitted the balloon's location and altitude using the amateur radio Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS);
• Radio beacon to assist with directional location by the recovery crews; and
• Mobile phone, to provide additional location information and pictures.

Future launches will include additional high-resolution cameras, and more advanced tracking and release mechanisms.

IMAGES AND VIDEO

Photographs from the payload camera, and video footage from the launch is available to the media on-request. Please contact Mark Mackay on +64 21 622 379.

ABOUT KIWISPACE

KiwiSpace Foundation is a new non-profit organisation seeking to make space accessible to New Zealanders. The foundation aims to showcase the benefits and opportunities that space applications provide NZ; highlight the many opportunities for New Zealanders to work in global space community; and enhance national space capabilities and education programmes. To learn more about KiwiSpace, visit http://www.kiwispace.org.nz

MISSION CONTACT

Will Leizerowicz
[will.leizerowicz@kiwispace.org.nz]
+64 22 600 6368

KIWISPACE CONTACT

Mark Mackay
[mark.mackay@kiwispace.org.nz]
+64 21 622 379
PO Box 301780, Albany, Auckland 0752, New Zealand.