AEM Ballooning team works with local pre-college students to build and fly spacecraft-like payloads high into the sky


Constructing Payloads

Constructing Payloads

Preparing for Launch

Preparing for Launch

Each year, students from local AFSA (Academy for Sciences & Agriculture) middle and high school have the opportunity to spend their last week of school learning about a special topic of their choosing. This year, learning about stratospheric ballooning became their goal and by pairing up with the University of Minnesota Stratospheric Ballooning team, the students were able to accomplish this.

On June 5th the groups met in Akerman Hall to begin the process of learning about and constructing payloads. After two days of hard-work, they headed out to fly their newly constructed payloads into the stratosphere near Kenyon, MN (south of the Twin Cities).

On launch day, the students worked with one another to inflate the balloons, attach their payloads, and then fly them into the stratosphere. View the launch here.

Not only was this event an excellent opportunity for the younger students to learn, but it also allowed the University students to practice flying hardware being developed for the upcoming Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017. During that event they will be flying their payloads on balloons into the stratosphere to stream video of the eclipse to the internet in real time. More information about the event here.