In this Insta360 Community Stories article, discover how Luke sent two Insta360 cameras to the stratosphere and captured spectacular footage as they came crashing back to Earth.
From Science Experiment to Tradition
For a decade, Luke Hladek—assistant head of school and former science teacher at Wheeling Country Day School—has launched weather balloons together with his students. What began as a one-off classroom experiment evolved into a yearly tradition, commemorating a student who passed away shortly before the very first launch.
Over the years, Luke and his students have sent numerous balloons up into the stratosphere. But there were always two challenges that eluded him: to track the balloon and witness its descent with its parachute, and to capture the balloon’s entire journey from launch to its high-altitude burst, and its payload’s dramatic descent.
 (1).gif)
“I always thought it’d be cool to see the parachute diving through the clouds or to be there when it landed,” Luke said. As it turns out, this is much harder than it sounds; balloons disappear, get tangled up in trees, or are destroyed in rough landings. Not to mention that any recoverable footage was always limited to the payload’s perspective. That is, until 2024.
Determined to finally achieve both his goals at the same time, Luke equipped the weather balloon slated for the launch in April with an Insta360 ONE RS. He mounted it on an extended selfie stick to get around 5 feet of open air to capture 360° footage. He also mounted a GO 3 camera for POV shots. The idea was to capture the ascent and get a good look at the Earth's curvature and stratospheric horizon, and then the descent and (hopefully) smooth landing.
Sending a Payload 75,000 Feet Into the Stratosphere
The launch went without a hitch, and Luke and his students even got a little emotional. The balloon reached its maximum altitude after around 30 minutes, and then after another 20 minutes, it burst and began falling back to Earth. But then something unexpected happened.
The chase team tried to track the balloon’s descent and locate its landing site, but they were unable to find it. Days turned into weeks with no sign of it. Had it been stolen or was it stuck in a tree somewhere? We didn’t know, and there only thing we could do was to wait and see if it would eventually turn up.
Recovering the Payload
Finally, after two months a farmer nearly 50 miles from the assumed landing site stumbled upon the balloon’s payload and contacted Luke. It turned out that an unusually strong updraft had caused a catastrophic failure, separating the payload from its parachute. This not only sent it tumbling back to Earth from a height of 75,000 feet, but also veered it off course.
Remarkably, both his ONE RS and GO 3 not only survived the landing but also endured several weeks of being exposed to the elements back on Earth; the ONE RS even powered up instantly when Luke got it back. The footage it had captured throughout its short but eventful journey was nothing short of breathtaking. Especially the moment when the parachute snapped.
.gif)
And among the footage, there was the elusive shot that Luke had chased for a decade: the balloon expanding to nearly three times its original size, silhouetted against the dark blue stratosphere. It was, as Luke described, “everything I hoped it’d be.”
His GO 3 had unfortunately lost some of the more dramatic footage, likely due to the impact from falling 75,000 feet. Despite this, it still works perfectly, and he now uses it as a webcam in his home office. Luke’s story is a good example that with the right tools, know-how, and perseverance, we can capture and explore the farthest reaches of the Earth and beyond. Which, in his case, means literally.
This story was shared with Insta360 Community Stories by Luke Hladek. Got a story to share? Email yours to communitystories@insta360.com and win up to US$50! Learn more here.
Keen to keep up to date on Insta360 stories? Keep an eye on our blog and sign up for our mailing list. Got a story to share? Email yours to communitystories@insta360.com and win up to US$50.
%20(1).svg)
%20(1).svg)
.svg)
