Space enthusiast Robert Harrison is making plenty of headlines this morning after he managed to send a home-made contraption that included a digital camera taped to a helium balloon, 22 miles – or 116,160 feet – above the earth’s surface from his back garden.

Just one of Harrison’s excellent pics.

The device has captured some stunning photography of the planet from space, and in fact the results are so good, NASA has been in touch to see just how he managed it. The Daily Mail reports that Harrison used a GPS tracking device to follow the balloon’s progress and also attached radio transmitter to find it when it parachutes back to earth.

His efforts – done on a budget of around €560 mirror the work of a pair of US students last year who also got some rather cools snaps of space, though they did it on a budget of about €110. Then again, the students just happened to be from MIT, so let’s not rain on Harrison’s parade here, the guy still did something immensely cool.

Before launch, the camera was attached to a tiny computer programmed to trigger a photo every five minutes. It was then wrapped in loft insulation bought from a DIY store then placed in a polystyrene box.

When the balloon reaches the 22-mile-high mark it pops because the air pressure is too weak to keep the helium inside and as the box falls a mini-parachute automatically opens.

Harrison himself says that he first got the idea to explore space after a failed attempt to take aerial pictures of his house using a remote control helicopter. After investigating high-altitude weather balloons on the internet, he launched his first mini spacecraft, named Icarus I, in October 2008.

That Mail reports that it took dramatic shots that spanned 1,000 miles of the Earth’s surface, showing the curvature-of the earth. He has since sent a dozen capsules into space.

“My family and friends thought I was a bit mad at first but they were suitably impressed with the results,” said the married father of three from Highburton, West Yorkshire.

“The pictures speak for themselves. People think this is something that costs millions but it doesn’t.”