Weather Balloon Reached The Edge Of Space, Was Successfully Recovered

When Jack Miron of Wilton, NH, developed his science project, he didn't know it would be as successful as it was, or that it would startle a homeowner some 10 miles away.

Miron, an 8th grader at Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, devised a project in which a weather balloon would carry a camera and weather-recording instruments aloft. He said he didn't know how high it would go, but it certainly exceeded his expectations.

Miron and his parents launched the balloon from Bedford, NH, according to a story appearing on Boston television station WCVB. It went to 110,000 feet ... the fringe of space ... before it exploded. The on-board parachute deployed as planned, and allowed the payload carrying the experiments to come safely back to Earth ... landing in the driveway of a homeowner in Manchester, NH, about 10 miles away from the launch site.

The homeowner was Sean Toland, who said the camera was still going when he retrieved it from his driveway. Toland called police because he had no idea of the payload's origin.

The police discovered Miron's contact information inside the box. The pictures and weather data he obtained will be used in a science fair project later this year.

FMI: www.pinehill.org