The balloon took off from the sports field of the grammar school in Karow and flew on towards the west Photo: Charles Yunck
By Sara Orlos Fernandes
He started on a sports field in Karow and landed behind Nauen – the students of the Robert Havemann High School successfully sent a balloon with a measuring station into the stratosphere.
Under the guidance of their physics teacher Safia Ouazi (43) and the lecturer Alexander Stendal (57), the 9th graders filled the white balloon with helium on Friday morning. Shortly before 11 a.m. they attached a parachute and also a measuring station to the flying object with a rope. Shortly before the start then the countdown. Classmates watched the spectacle from the schoolyard.
dr Alexander Stendal with Safia Ouazi and the students Photo: Charles Yunck
At around 11 a.m. the balloon flew towards the stratosphere. After only a few minutes he was no longer recognizable from the ground. His flight was tracked by radio, and teacher Ouazi followed him in the car. At an altitude of over 28 kilometers, the experiment balloon burst after growing from two meters in diameter to ten meters.
Shortly before 2 p.m. we landed near a lake behind Nauen. The measuring device was hidden in the long grass in the Havelland Luch. “It wasn’t that easy to find him,” says the physics teacher.
Technology in a box that records flight data Photo: Charles Yunck
Here the path of the balloon is traced Photo: Charles Yunck
The aim of the project is to measure the environmental data in the stratosphere. For this purpose, the students built and programmed the measuring station with a Geiger counter for radioactivity, temperature and air pressure sensors themselves beforehand in class.
Radio operators from Bernau help out Photo: Charles Yunck
At the same time, as part of the project, a balloon rose from the partner school in the Alsatian town of Thann. Physics teacher Safia Ouazi (43) keeps inspiring her students with special projects. For this she was rewarded by NASA in September 2022 and was allowed to fly from the base in California to the stratosphere.