Man captures a spectacular view of the Earth after launching a balloon-attached GoPro into space

For adventure seekers and content creators, the GoPro is known for its reliability and durability. But one man took the device to new heights—literally. Stuart Shippee, the creator behind the YouTube channel "@BloonStu," shared a video of his GoPro strapped to a balloon and launched into space. The camera captured breathtaking footage of the Earth's curvature in a video that has been captivating viewers for nine years.

The 8-minute and 27-second video started with the text overlay, "Launch! All FAA and regs were followed and an FAA NOTAM was even filed. Launched from NE Texas." The GoPro initially captured the surrounding fields and a few houses as it moved higher. The text overlay read, "Shortly after launch, it climbs into the scattered cloud layer" and the land view began to get hazy.

Next, the GoPro gave a close-up look at the clouds. The text overlay gave some more information, "Skipping ahead to popping out the tops, we can see some storms are growing along a front line. Remember how big they look now for reference later." Eventually, the GoPro moved above the clouds and the text overlay read, "Impressive growing thunderstorms to the North and to the East! We are now out claiming the tops of even those storms! We are now in the Stratosphere."

Next, Shippee shared that the weather front started to be visible as the line of clouds and the Red River was separating Texas and Oklahoma. After this, the Earth's curvature started to get visible. The text overlay read, "This is the view from the max height achieved by the balloon while it floats in near space at an altitude above 90,000 feet, over 17 miles high." The clouds also started to look extremely small by then. After this, the balloon burst and a parachute was deployed. In the end, the GoPro captured its return and finally fell into a field, which Shippee later tracked down.

The video gathered 12 million views on YouTube and people were in awe of the stunning views GoPro recorded. @kayty6673 commented, "I would love to watch the entire three hours minus any added sound/ music. It is priceless to hear the silence of the sky." @coleertel1854 wrote, "When the balloon popped and the camera flipped to face the sun that may have been one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen." @ladyrachel13 expressed, "That's incredible. Send a balloon with a GoPro strapped to it. It goes as far as near space and drops back down to Earth again. Recording the entire time. What a camera!"

@savnnah5038 said, "I don't think I've seen anything quite like the shot when the balloon burst... something about the way it quickly goes from the view of the Earth we all know to the sun, not in a blue sky but in the blackness of space, and the balloon pieces scattering into the void as the camera falls, is just very unique and amazing." @joshuapatrick682 wrote, "Crazy how the atmosphere appears as a light blue haze around the planet... glad it's there, but this makes you realize just how fragile it is."

You can follow Stuart Shippee (@BloonStu) on YouTube for more fascinating content.