Blue Devils Soar to New Heights

For this year’s capstone project, dubbed the Duke High Altitude Balloon Project, students in the class launched two weather balloons to capture atmospheric data as well as some pretty stellar photos and videos. The class introduces a new project each time it is taught, making this year’s high-altitude balloon design a novel challenge.

And a successful one.

According to the instrumentation, the class’s balloons reached heights of 120,000 feet and 104,000 feet, bringing amazing views back down to earth with their attached GoPro cameras. Catch some footage of their trial runs and the main event below. The views of the Engineering Quad—and the entire state—are spectacular.