The galaxy’s best dad
Oct 5, 2012, 3:27 AM | Updated: Oct 9, 2012, 12:19 pm
The man that made this fantastic video has got to be nominated for galaxy’s best dad award.
I had to call up Ron Fugelseth of Santa Cruz, California after seeing his amazing effort to send his son’s toy train into space.
Fugelseth says his son Jayden and his toy train Stanley have been inseparable since he was two. He’s been documenting their friendship on video after since. After seeing another YouTube video of some high school students sending a Lego man into space, he figured it would be cool to send Stanley to the stars.
“I used a weather balloon and an old phone for some GPS and a kind of cheap HD camera just in case I lost the whole thing. I insulated it with pocket warmers because it gets, I think, below freezing at that altitude,” he says.
Fugelseth says he even had to call the FAA to get clearance before liftoff.
“I went by all their guidelines to make sure that I had a radar reflector, parachute, everything, so it was perfectly legal.”
In the video, you can see a smiling Stanley soaring ever higher into the sky, ultimately climbing 18 miles up before the balloon pops and falls back to earth.
Fugelseth tracked the balloon to a farm 27 miles away, where Jayden was ultimately reunited with his beloved toy train.
“It’s really amazing, as far as home videos go. It’s kind of the ultimate,” says the advertising creative director and all around great dad. “Now I have to do something for my daughter because I don’t want her to grow up thinking why did you do that for Jayden and not for me?”
MyNorthwest.com Reporter Josh Kerns contributed to this report.
