![]() ![]() The StratoShuttle-1 students weren't the only ones who caught a great view of Atlantis' launch. In addition to capturing great views, the mission measured atmospheric conditions in preparation for a remotely controlled airplane flight Quest for Stars aims to launch later this summer. "I think they saw it as not a threat," Russell said. ![]() Though Russell and the students were "extremely concerned" that NASA might be forced to shoot down their balloon for safety reasons, they were reassured when they saw that StratoShuttle-1 was still in the air. The team also had a scare when a storm blew their experiment into NASA's no-fly zone, a 40-mile radius circle around the space shuttle launch pad that vehicles are not allowed enter. "We lost a video transmitter because it got hit by water." "We had a thunderstorm develop over our launch site, and a lot of water got on our equipment," Russell said. The bright orange of the spaceship's engines glows as a far-away dot, with a graceful smoke contrail arcing below it. The group's latest project captured Atlantis streaking across the indigo-blue sky. The balloon Robonaut-1 photographed NASA's final launch of the shuttle Discovery in February, with the Senatobia-1 balloon catching views of the last liftoff of Endeavour in May. Quest for Stars also launched student balloons to take photos of NASA's last two shuttle blastoffs. "Even though they're going off to college, they're still participating in the design," Russell said. īoth graduated this year, and are heading to college to pursue aerospace degrees, Russell said. Two students - Grant Garrity and Max Wasserman of High Tech High School in San Diego - worked on this experiment. It was their first shuttle launch and they were part of it." Quest for Stars was invited by NASA to run their mission out of the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center. The helium-filled weather balloon was equipped with four high-definition cameras, three Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, a video recorder and a complete avionics system. StratoShuttle-1 launched from the Seminole Softball Complex in Orlando, Fla., and landed in Altoona, Fla., about 45 miles away, almost three hours later. ![]()
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