A STATE-OF-THE-ART balloon capable of making it into the limits of the Earth’s atmosphere was launched from Swindon and recovered – from Warwickshire.

The £15,000 balloon, complete with camera and tracking device, was launched from Dorcan Academy, in St Paul’s Drive, on Tuesday morning and recovered from a field near Stratford-upon-Avon later the same day.

Now the school has been able to download the photographic data the balloon captured as it made its way thousands of feet into the sky.

And, thanks to the on-board tracking equipment, staff and pupils have also been able to plot the balloon’s course.

Teacher Ruth Farrow said pupils and staff alike were enthralled when monitoring the balloon’s progress across the country.

“The balloon was launched at about 9.40am and quickly whipped into the sky,” she said.

“The tracker sent signals every five minsutes and we soon realised that it was heading north east of Swindon, though the students could see this was happening for some time; it was such a clear day and the sky was so blue.”

The balloon, which was won by students in a competition, then disappeared from the tracking device’s view.

“By 10am it had gone out of the tracker’s range, just north of Carterton,” Ruth said.

“When it reappeared at 11.42am, it was heading quickly towards Stratford-upon-Avon.

“It landed near Wellesbourne in a field and was collected by teachers and back at the school by 4.30pm.”

However, when downloading information from the device, staff and pupils found a dazzling array of pictures from thousands of feet into the sky.

“The camera did not have any footage that proved it made it through the Earth’s atmosphere but did capture amazing shots,” Ruth said.

“Now it is the quest of our science students to use the data available from the balloon’s computer to try and determine how far it did go.

“We have all the equipment back and are determined to have another go.

Students are thinking of ideas to try and raise money to replace our balloon already.”