Samsung's outer space selfie device has crash-landed in Michigan.
Last week, Samsung Europe launched the "SpaceSelfie," a device comprised of a high-altitude balloon and solar-powered machine which, according to a company statement, sent "the world's first selfie sent to space." The device launched into the stratosphere, however, not to space. It reached about 22 miles (35 km) above Earth's surface, Hugh Lewis, an astrophysics professor at the University of Southampton, estimated to the BBC.
But, while Samsung planned for the device to touch down back on Earth with the help of its balloon component after taking its first image, things didn't go as planned. After being subjected to inclement weather, the SpaceSelfie crashed down on the property of a woman in rural Michigan.
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Michigan resident Mumby-Welke and her husband heard a loud crash outside of their home in Gratiot County on Saturday morning (Oct. 26). They went outside to investigate and found the SpaceSelfie device on their property.
“We realized it had fallen from the sky. It looked like a satellite," Mumby-Welke told NBC News.
The couple noticed logos on the device from Samsung and Raven Industries - a company in South Dakota from which the SpaceSelfie launched This led her to an internet search, which revealed more information about the device.
"Early Saturday morning, Samsung Europe's SpaceSelfie balloon came back down to earth. During this planned descent of the balloon to land in the U.S., weather conditions resulted in an early soft landing in a selected rural area. No injuries occurred and the balloon was subsequently retrieved. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused," a Samsung spokesperson told Space.com in an email.
While it was still in the stratosphere, the SpaceSelfie device snapped an image of its "first selfie" of actor and model Cara Delevingne, which was displayed on a digital screen with "a unique view of planet earth as the backdrop," the company said.
The company intends for Delevingne's selfie to be the "first of many that Samsung will lift into the stratosphere this month as part of SpaceSelfie, a mission to give everyone the chance to get their face in space."
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