Kepler Space Kit Makes Taking Pictures From Space a Snap

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Hanging a camera from a weather balloon and using it to snap photographs from the edges of space has become quite a popular project for space and photography enthusiasts as of late. If you want to try your hand at it, but don’t have the time, energy, creativity, or resources to create the space vessel yourself, NYC-based industrial design company Quirky is working on a product just for you.

Called the Kepler Space Kit, it’s a ready-to-fly balloon camera rig that lets you easily start your personal space photography program.

It’s actually an upgrade to the company’s existing Kepler kit, which allows photographers to shoot aerial photographs using a kite. The Space Kit makes some modifications to make the rig space-capable:

The base Kepler kit transforms with minimal waste: the kite turns into a parachute, the rods into landing legs, and the custom mount supports a capsule for high-flying travel. Add a weather balloon and a GPS transmitter, and your iPhone or Go Pro camera will be ready to blast off and return with footage of the great beyond (“Millenium Falcon” decal not included).

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The modified vessel can snap photographs and record video from up to 100,000 feet.

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Check out this video showing a test launch they did using the kit:

Here are some same photographs they captured:

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The product is still currently in the development phase, so there isn’t any word yet on pricing or availability. You can provide some feedback on how much you’d like to kit to cost over on the project’s webpage — perhaps you can help drive the price down for space-lovin’ photographers around the world!

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