COLUMBUS, Ga. (WXIA) - Columbus teen Erin King received her early admission letter to MIT in Boston in mid-January, but what she did with the cardboard tube it came in is what has everyone talking.
In honor of one of the university's biggest pranks or "hacks," newly admitted students for the class of 2016 were invited to "hack" their cardboard tubes in what they called their "Hack The Tubes" project.
Erin decided to use a weather balloon to loft her tube to the edge of space.
She attached a camera and a GPS unit to the tube, suspended it beneath an 800 gram helium-filled weather balloon and let it fly. The balloon ascended to 91,000 feet before it burst and dropped its payload back toward the ground.
A parachute guided the tube back to the ground about 75 miles east of Columbus near Cordele, Ga., about two hours later.
Once the payload was recovered, Erin was able to upload the video to YouTube so everyone could see the journey.