Clarkson students pull off their own (near) space launch

Students at Clarkson University sent a weather balloon zipping up to around 80,000 feet last week, snapping some very cool pictures.  The craft was eventually recovered in the Adirondacks.

Here’s the statement from Clarkson:

Last week, Clarkson University’s K2CC Amateur Radio Club launched and recovered its first-ever near-space weather balloon.

It is believed that the balloon made it to an altitude of over 80,000 feet, where the homemade space capsule took photos of space as well as Earth.

The recovery adventure took two days and involved a road trip, a short daytime hike, a nighttime drive on logging roads, a small plane rental and corresponding search-and-rescue flight, a hike after nightfall, and pushing through thick Boreal forest.

Read a blog about the project and see a lot more photographs here.

Tags: education