Japanese artist sends bonsai and flower arrangement to the edge of space - PHOTO

Azuma Makato, a 38-year-old from Tokyo, sent a bonsai tree and a flower arrangement into the upper atmosphere to witness what would happen.The results are a stunning cascade of colour and beauty as the plant life soars towards the cosmos, before the inevitable pop of the helium balloons that took them there brings them crashing back to Earth.Makoto launched the two botanical objects from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada on 15 July 2014, reports the New York Times. ‘Flowers aren’t just beautiful to show on tables,’ he said. ‘I wanted to see the movement and beauty of plants and flowers suspended in space.’With the help of his 10-person crew and Sacramento’s JP Aerospace, Makoto set about designing the structures and setting up the cameras that would make the mission called Exobiotanica a success.Two separate balloons were used to take the bouquet and bonsai tree into the upper atmosphere.The first, carrying the bonsai, rose to a height of 91,800ft (28,000 metres) in 100 minutes before the helium balloon burst.It then fell to Earth for 40 minutes before parachutes opened and brought it to the ground.The second balloon, carrying the bouquet, made it to about 87,000ft (26,500 metres) in a similar time.The cameras used to capture the incredible shots from high altitude were six GoPro video cameras, donated by Fujifilm.The bouquet was composed of 30 types of flower including peace lilies, dahlias and orchids.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az