Gawker is real impressed by this story, but I don't get it.

"High-flying MIT nerds shame filthy-rich NASA," they declare. See, NASA spends $20 billion a year to photograph outer space, while a couple MIT students did it for $150. They stuck a cellphone/camera in a styrofoam box, programmed it to take a picture every five seconds, and attached it to a helium balloon. It soared 17 miles before the balloon popped. Here's the footage:



But see, the good thing about NASA is, when they're in charge, nobody's pulverized by a picnic cooler hitting earth at 34,782 miles per hour.