This is our last post in the series about the Indian Valley high-altitude weather balloon launch to the edge of space. You’ve already met the school, the teachers, and some of the students involved (Part 1) and you’ve read about what the students learned from the launch (Part 2).
Something great about StratoStar high altitude balloon launches to the edge of space is how excited it can make the students and everyone else in the community. Ms. North of Indian Valley noted that school administration, including the superintendent, stopped by multiple times during each stage to see how things were going. Parents of the students even showed up to watch the launch and returned to Mission Control to watch footage from the onboard weather balloon cameras. Mr. Jenkins had students that weren’t even in his class asking how the experiments were shaping up. When it came time to launch the balloon, students from all four grades watched as the balloon lifted into the sky and disappear into the clouds.
The launch was incredibly successful and everyone involved had a great time. The students engaged in real world problem solving and got to send experiments into an environment that is usually reserved for NASA scientists. I promised you a video of the launch in the last post so below you will find videos which highlight the entire experience of launching Captain America and Darth Vader to the Edge of Space while collecting real time sensor data from experiments:
Indian Valley Flight Video:
