I love that his rocket is steam powered. Gives it that Rube Goldberg flavor.
Anyway, it appears his goal is to take pictures miles above the flat disk we call home. Besides the balloons already mention, the manned and unmanned rockets that have already done this, wouldn't it be cheaper and safer (as if that's a concern) to just buy a ticket for a commercial flight and take pictures out the window at 40,000 feet?