“With off-the-shelf parts we demonstrated a lot of science that we learned in middle school,” Ward said. “In fact, if I had done this in middle school, I would have actually paid attention. . . . For me, there was no part of this process I didn’t enjoy. I just had to get up and do it.”

Ward is hoping to inspire young people and others to think of aerospace as something within their reach, even if they happen not to be Elon Musk. He funded the entire enterprise with less than $1,800, which he raised from 50 donors on Kickstarter.

Ward spoke to school classes and civic clubs after the first launch and hopes to do more educational outreach.

“If 10 kids Google a word I’ve said, or go to Wikipedia because of something I’ve said, I’ve done my job,” he said. Ward and radio club leaders said they plan to share their data and plans with anyone who is interested.

A newspaper story about Ward’s first launch caught the attention of the Baylor Amateur Radio Club. Club leaders were interested in partnering with him on an experiment using shortwave radio to track and collect data from objects in near space.