The sky really is the limit for Calthorpe Park School pupils who have joined the space race. Pupils have designed equipment and programmed technology to gather weather information and to capture the curvature of the Earth through photographs and video footage using a helium filled weather balloon. An insulated capsule, containing a high-resolution camera, GPS tracking equipment and weather measuring sensors was sent up into the edge of ‘near space’—an altitude of over 32 000m (104 000ft). Calthorpe Park's STEM Club consisting of over 40 keen pupils and under the guidance of staff members Donna Wilson, David Lugg and David Hainsworth had designed and built this amazing project. The balloon needed approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to pass through UK airspace and due to Fleet, Hampshire and the surrounding area being located on the main Heathrow Airport flight path so was launched from just north of Newbury, Berkshire. Working closely with PhD students from Southampton University's Spaceflight Association the balloon was tracked throughout its flight and eventually landed near Alresford, Hampshire town centre. In fact it actually landed 5m up a tree in a local resident's garden but was successfully retrieved with the help from some interested neighbours. Pupil Matthew, aged 13 said: The science behind our balloon launch was truly amazing. The balloon was 2.5m in diameter when launched and it carried a parachute and payload below it—giving it a total length of about 30m. As it rises the outside pressure decreases which leads to the helium within the balloon expanding, causing the balloon to stretch. The balloon is made of a form of latex and is incredibly stretchy, however as it enters space it gets to a point where it cannot stretch any more and bursts. The parachute then brings the payload consisting of our camera, along with GPS and weather sensors back to earth. We were all extremely pleased that our balloon had reached a height of 32km above earth, high enough to see and record the curvature of the earth. To put that in context Felix Baumgartner's jump from space in 2012 was from a height of 39km. Pupil Jack, aged 12 said: it was one of the most enjoyable and interesting projects I have ever been involved with in STEM Club. My role was to go out in the school minibus along with other pupils and my teacher and launch the balloon. We then spent four hours tracking the balloon using GPS technology until it returned to earth. Fellow pupils had set up mission control in my school's library and were also tracking it and analysing feedback from the weather sensors such as ascent rate, temperature and pressure changes. Southampton University, who were helping us launch the balloon, set up a live internet stream so our mission control could watch us launch the balloon live. It was great when we managed to retrieve the payload and our camera and analyse the video footage. We had put our STEM club mascot on the outside of the box dressed in a school jumper and that can be seen in our photos. Video link to balloon flight can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TdMtXLq56I