PORT ANGELES — Students from Port Angeles and Crescent high schools release a high-altitude helium balloon containing cameras and tracking devices Thursday from Port Angeles High School. Included with the balloon were smaller balloons depicting make-believe astronauts and ribbons containing the names of students taking part in the launch. An additional payload package contained seeds that would be planted by students at Stevens Middle School and Franklin Elementary School.
Students gather on the practice field at Port Angeles High School for Thursday’s high-altitude balloon lunch. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Robert Winglee, director of the Washington NASA Grant Consortium at the University of Washington, left, makes adjustments to a camera mounted on a framework holding balloons standing in as “astronauts,” ribbons with the names of students and two packets of seeds to be carried on the balloon. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Student helpers hold a balloon as it is filled with helium Thursday at Port Angeles High School. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)