Featherweight Weather Balloon

A group purely of amateurs created a lightweight weather balloon recently to travel new distances across the world.

The creators names were Ron (55) and Lee (32) Meadows who, as father and son, work together as swimming pool service repairmen.

The balloon, called "call sign K6RPT-11" was launched from a site near Silicon Valley on Sunday the 11th. It was one of the two balloons launched designed to reach high heights and then travel with the wind.

The balloon traveled an amazing 6,236 miles and eventually ended up falling out of the sky somewhere above the Mediterranean. It was traveling 35 mph at a height of 14,558 feet above the ground.

Here's what the weather balloon looked like right before the launch:

The balloon weighed about 3.5 pounds, which is what allowed it to travel so far and high.

The father and son are also previous record holders in that they made a latex balloon that traveled at an altitude of 136,545 feet, which broke the previous record by 1,500 feet. They also doubled their last run for distance with the "all sign K6RPT-11".

I really think this device could help us get better readings of weather even faster by allowing us to travel half-way across the world in one trip with a weather balloon.