CHILDREN watched in awe as a laptop attached to a huge balloon soared into space yesterday morning.

A group of 12 pupils from Shrivenham Primary School visited Stanton House Hotel to observe the Microsoft Surface Book 2 being launched beyond the troposphere - the lowest level of the earth’s atmosphere

They also asked the scientists and staff from CuroTalent questions about the science behind the spaceflight.

Two pupils from Years 1 to 6 came along with postcards they’d written to be sent up in a box with the balloon.

Some of these postcards will then be sent on to leading figures from the space and technology industries and UK Government, including Tim Peake, Mark Zuckerberg, Theresa May, and Helen Sharman, the first woman to go into space.

The balloon floated into space before bursting to descend back to Earth, with a parachute deploying shortly before it landed.

Shrivenham Church of England Primary School headteacher Jude Scutt enjoyed the unusual day out.

She said: “It was lovely and it went very well.

“The children were thrilled and learned a lot from the launch, it’s not something they get to do very often.

“It was an interesting and memorable experience for them to speak to the scientists and ask how the launch worked, how long the journey would take and how they were predicting where it would land.

“The children tracked the laptop’s journey online when they returned to school, it was originally predicted to land near Norfolk.But it ended up landing safely by a town near Cambridge.

“This gave them a wide range of opportunities to learn about different subjects, including science and geography and English.”

The launch was organised in conjunction with experts from Sent Into Space and broadcast on YouTube and social media.

CuroTalent staff work with Microsoft from their homes in Swindon and they invited the school to the event to inspire an interest in technology in the young students.

Graham Smith, from CuroTalent, said: “It was a very stressful launch because the winds got up to 40 miles per hour, which is the point where you have to decide whether to proceed or pull the plug.

“However, it was a successful launch, though it didn’t land where we expected it to and it almost went into a lake, But the laptop was undamaged and we recovered it safely.

“The children were enthusiastic and they asked lots of great questions.”

“We supply IT staff to companies like Microsoft and getting qualified staff is always a challenge, so we are keen get young people to consider a career in IT and get them interested in science and technology.”