This is cool, but I think his “wacky daydream last spring” came about because he read the articles about this group of teens from Spain who did it first.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5005022/Teens-capture-images-of-space-with-56-camera-and-balloon.html
Heck, my friends and I did the same thing way back in 1960 in high school!