Lebanon Christian School launched their fourth weather balloon Friday morning as an ongoing experiment to see the atmospheres effects on different items, living and inanimate.The balloon uses almost a full tank of helium to inflate and can reach altitudes of 100,000 feet. And there is no telling where it will land once it pops.View images from weather balloon in Earth's atmosphere“The past three we’ve been successful at recovering the payload. When we did them in the winter they went a lot father, we had one go as far down as Port Smith, and one up by Cambridge,” Tom Reed said. Reed is a volunteer who coordinates the launch.Watch this storyAs part of the experiment, students from Lebanon Christian sent different items up with the balloon. One fifth grade class chose ping pong balls.“When Mr. Reed came to our class, he talked about how much pressure was up there and we wanted to see if the ping pong balls would squish… or pop,” fifth-grader Faith Duncan said.Other classes sent marshmallows, a doll, even live crickets to see if they could survive the trip.Reed said Friday afternoon that the balloon reached an altitude of 95,000 feet before it popped. The payload was recovered near Sabina in Clinton County.The launch team also sent up a GoPro camera to document the trip. You can see the pictures and video by following the link to the Lebanon Christian’s Facebook page.

Lebanon Christian School launched their fourth weather balloon Friday morning as an ongoing experiment to see the atmospheres effects on different items, living and inanimate.

The balloon uses almost a full tank of helium to inflate and can reach altitudes of 100,000 feet. And there is no telling where it will land once it pops.

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View images from weather balloon in Earth's atmosphere

“The past three we’ve been successful at recovering the payload. When we did them in the winter they went a lot father, we had one go as far down as Port Smith, and one up by Cambridge,” Tom Reed said. Reed is a volunteer who coordinates the launch.

Watch this story

As part of the experiment, students from Lebanon Christian sent different items up with the balloon. One fifth grade class chose ping pong balls.

“When Mr. Reed came to our class, he talked about how much pressure was up there and we wanted to see if the ping pong balls would squish… or pop,” fifth-grader Faith Duncan said.

Other classes sent marshmallows, a doll, even live crickets to see if they could survive the trip.

Reed said Friday afternoon that the balloon reached an altitude of 95,000 feet before it popped. The payload was recovered near Sabina in Clinton County.

The launch team also sent up a GoPro camera to document the trip. You can see the pictures and video by following the link to the Lebanon Christian’s Facebook page.