Scientists Get House to Fly, a la Pixar’s “Up”

Tuesday, 08 March 2011 | by Pat's Picks

It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s a house! Remember the Pixar movie “Up!”? Well, the Daily Mail says a group of National Geographic scientists teamed up to see whether or not it was possible to actually tether a house to balloons and get it to fly. Turns out, with a few modifications, it is. Armed with “300 helium-filled weather balloons,” the group was able to get a light-weight house 10,000 feet in the air. The house was custom built for the experiment after the scientists found it impossible to launch an actual one. The stunt was filmed for National Geographic’s new show, called “How Hard Can it Be?”

Read more about the project on the National Geographic Channel blog

Here’s some behind-the-scenes footage: