GoPro video shows 6abc Weather Balloon's flight

An on-board GoPro camera captured the 6abc Weather Balloon's entire flight into the upper atmosphere and back Wednesday morning.

A time-lapse video shows the dramatic flight from start to finish.

After a flight of nearly four hours on Wednesday morning, the balloon landed in Bucks County.

Chopper 6 was overhead as our team caught up with the device attached to the balloon, and the parachute that brought it back down to Earth. (Specifically, New Britain Township.)

Chopper 6 was overhead after the 6abc Weather Balloon landed on Wednesday.

During Action News Mornings, meteorologist Karen Rogers was there as we launched the 6abc Weather Balloon from Berks County to gather forecasting data from the local skies.

Here's how it looked as the launch aired LIVE on Action News at 6:30 a.m.:

Meteorologist Karen Rogers was there as we launched the 6abc Weather Balloon!

We filled the biodegradable weather balloon, made of tree sap, with helium. It may look like an ordinary balloon, but these sounding balloons are the backbone of weather forecasting.

More than 800 of them are launched worldwide twice a day. Attached to the balloon are sensors measuring temperature and pressure.

The GPS tracker can determine the wind speed and direction in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

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September 21, 2016: The Action Cam was on the ground and Chopper 6 HD in the sky as we launched the 6abc Weather Balloon!

As we launched our 6abc Weather Balloon, it ascended 1,000 feet per minute. The balloon travels to the edge of space - 100,000 feet above the surface - while transmitting data every minute.

Then it burst and a parachute carries it down.

Along with the data, we'll also recover a GoPro camera to get a first-hand look at the balloon's journey.

Here are pictures of Wednesday morning's launch:

So, how does it work? Cecily Tynan and Adam Joseph explain:

Action News is launching a weather balloon.