An iPhone goes to space

We seem to be obsessed with sending objects to space - an iPad, Angry Birds plushies and now, it is an iPhone. While the iPad and the plushies made it all the way to the International Space Station (ISS), it seems the iPhone just hung out for a while, right outside the stratosphere. The iPhone made its journey, courtesy an Internet encyclopedia, called Open Site (click to see the video of the iPhone's journey). The idea behind the project was to encourage future space travel. The iPhone's journey to space was recorded via two GoPro cameras and along the way, the iPhone played videos of famous current and past leaders who have supported various space programs, including John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barrack Obama and Space X Co-Founder, Elon Musk. The site on which the video is hosted also features a quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, and it reads, "Apollo in 1969. Shuttle in 1981. Nothing in 2011. Our space program would look awesome to anyone living backwards through time.”

The video's message is "Now is the time"

The site on which the video is hosted also says that the project was done to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's orbit of the earth. The people behind the project describe themselves as space enthusiasts and explain that they essentially tied an iPhone on a rig that they built to a weather balloon filled with helium to get the device up to space. At first, they would just watch it drift away to the sky and then after a while, they would watch the whole thing come apart into pieces and watch the various pieces fall all over Washington state. The message behind the project is "Now is the time for us to go back to space", which is also the reason behind the looping of the videos featuring important people encouraging space travel. The site also includes a behind the scenes video where you not only see the project in motion, but you also see its effect on the director and his girlfriend. One of the videos in the loop featured a special message in which director, Jason Hakala says, "Took me a trip to space to finally get the balls to do this, but I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” To watch the video of the behind the scenes footage, click here.