Good Afternoon, Time for a quick update.

Things have been quiet around here for two weeks since we hit the initial funding goals; real life and a heavy work load showed up and I needed to focus on them. I have been running around town trying to put my hands on various makes and models of cameras and trying to negotiate deals on discounted helium.

There have been a few donors come on board during this time… ‘thank you’ and welcome to the project.

Over the next 10 days, friends and family will see me push a little more on social media for extended goals. Feel free to tweet, retweet, blog and Facbook about what we are doing. I want to be clear to you initial donors that you did your job and I sincerely appreciate the support for getting this thing all the way to where we wanted to be.

I am realizing as I research different aspects of this ‘mission’ that I’m not finding the definitive ‘how-to’ guide that I would want to use. There are plenty of resources out there, just not the ONE I would want to use. It’s time to push for a stretch goal of at least $1500 to cover the expense of publishing an e-book(?).

After the launch and recovery, I want to produce a document to highlight the workflow, decisions we made, the successes and failures and really explain the math we are going to work through (science/photo goals, budget, purchasing, weight, payload testing, balloon inflation, winds, tracking, etc).

The extra funding would go to paying somebody better than me to assemble the e-book and make it look good (more professional than I can manage).

ALL donors would have access to the e-book and I am considering making it available online for a small fee. My intent is NOT to make money, but to cover my expenses and get material out to schools and interested hobbyists.

So here’s the deal… project funding above $1500 will guaranty some kind of e-publication to all donors (free) and education/hobbiest (cheap). If we can’t get enough funding to put out a quality publication (<$1500) I am not going to just pocket the extra and I’ll go out of my way to get at least one quality printed photo from [near]space via mail to all donors over $10.

I want to be very transparent and a steward of your goodwill and resources.
Feedback appreciated.

Thanks,
Josh