West Potomac Students' Balloon Record Images Of Space: Video

West Potomac High School's Advanced STEM Engineering Class launched a high altitude balloon into space earlier this month. The Wolverine High Altitude Balloon caught camera footage from 19 miles above the Earth.

Led by teacher Joseph Franco, students constructed the balloon with a flotation device, GoPro camera, GPS, flight computer and radar reflector. The class traveled to Allegheny College of Maryland in Cumberland, Md. to launch the balloon.

The students tracked the flight path based on computer data. At 30,000 feet, the balloon reached the same altitude commercial planes fly at. At 35,728, frost forms on the camera lens as temperatures reach -52 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature actually got higher as it moved farther up.

The peak altitude was 100,423 feet, or 19 miles. At its peak, the balloon expanded to 93 times the original volume due to the thin air. When the expanding gas makes the balloon reach capacity, the video shows it pop and begin to fall.

The GoPro camera captured the balloon's entire ascent and eventual fall back to Earth. The balloon was up in the air for two hours and 15 minutes. The balloon ended up back in Northern Virginia, landing on a 140-foot tree in Great Falls.

Watch the balloon launch below.

Screenshot via Youtube video