Three British “space buffs” (Steve Daniels, John Oates and Lester Haines) have managed to use a helium balloon to send a paper airplane equipped with a camera into space to take pictures. The stunt or so-called operation “Paris” (Paper Aircraft Released Into Space), took a year to plan using an aircraft with an approximate 1 meter (3 foot) wingspan and a helium balloon.
When the balloon with the paper aircraft was released in Spain, it soared to 37 kilometers (23 miles) to take dozens of pictures before gliding safely back to earth after about 90 minutes and landing nearly 37 kilometers (20 miles) away from where it was initially released. Luckily for the trio, the plane narrowly missed landing in a reservoir and a lion enclosure in a safari park.
Operation “Paris” cost the three approximately 8,000 pounds and as you can see from their Youtube page, the camera captured some great aerial shots from space!