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Near the balloon's highest point, the camera captured a stunning scene.

Experiment travels 106,000 ft.
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: April 13, 2017

A Valley Center Hornet reached rare heights last week.

Students at Valley Center Middle School launched something similar to a weather balloon into space April 7 and it landed six hours later in a hay field about 120 miles away after doing a loop and reaching an altitude of 106,000 feet.

And the entire journey was recorded on a Go Pro camera, with a Hornet logo in front of it.

"It was really fun and exciting, because I've never done anything like this before," said seventh-grader Gunner Pulliam, who was in charge of tracking the weather to determine how it would affect the flight of the balloon.

The experience was part of a project spearheaded by a principal and teacher but completed by a group of Valley Center Middle School students.

The helium-filled balloon left Valley Center about 3 p.m. When it reached its apex, the balloon burst and released a triangular weight tied to a parachute. A camera with a Hornet logo attached to a stick in front of it was mounted on the weight, as were vials of fruit fly eggs and radish seeds that students plan to use in science experiments.

Following signals from a GPS device that was among the balloon's payload, Principal Greg Mittman and teacher Nathan Dick later used a vehicle to track the balloon. They found the parachute and payload near the tiny town of Thayer, which is just south of Chanute on Highway 169.

"Watching the video, it got close to a lake," said Taylor Ammerman, a seventh-grader involved in the project.

Pulliam said the group had a "general idea" where it was going to land, based on wind speeds, which were 11 mph at the time of the launch with guests up to 44 mph at airplane level (between 35,000 and 40,000 feet), but couldn't be certain about its exact location.

The students' goal was to reach 100,000 feet before the parachute began its descent.

"We had to input how much the balloon weighed and mess around with the positive lift to determine how much helium to put in," said seventh-grader Robby Clausel. "We didn't want it to take too long. We wanted it to reach 100,000 (feet) in four hours because that was the battery life of the Go Pro."

It came pretty close to the students' calculations.

The idea for the project started with Mittman last fall. About a month ago, students in Dick's seminar class, along with others, took hold of the notion and began running with it.

Dick said students were involved in planning and building the structure, including the electronic equipment.

"We had to skip some classes (to complete the project)," said seventh-grader Halle Brittain. "It was exciting to do."

Students gained permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch the balloon. They also notified Dwight D. Eisenhower Airport authorities the day of the launch.

"It all came together today," seventh-grader Ella Wiechman said, watching the balloon float into the sky above the football stadium behind the intermediate school.

Dick said the radish seeds and the fruit fly eggs will be used in an experiment to determine the effects of high-altitude radiation. Control groups were left at the school, while some vials that went into space were covered with foil and others were left uncovered.

Now that the balloon's journey is complete, Dick said students will get busy on the experiments, and students in a computer and digital class will begin producing a video documenting the project to show to the school board May 8.

Ammerman also blogged about the project, which covered an array of school subjects.

"I think after seeing all the data come together, it was really cool how you could track where it went and how high it went," Clausel said. "It was cool seeing everyone work together to get it launched."

The project was supported with a grant from the Valley Center Education Foundation.





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