Calgary students' space probe set for launch into stratosphere

Three,two,one ... blast off.

The countdown is on for someCalgary high school students whoare set to launch their school project into the stratosphere.

Students at Sir Wilfred Laurier School have built a fully-functional space probe, one thatteacher Jamie Parkinson says has taught the students lessons that cannot be learned in a textbook.

"I've basically set them up as a space agency, so there are some kids that were managing their finances, some that were ordering parts and managing the logistics, engineers, scientists, the whole lot," he said.

The school project also has the support of real-life astronauts, thanksto the involvement of the Canadian Space Agency.

The small probe that the children built will be launched from Kiruna, Sweden, into near-space, on Saturday, and will fly for about 14 hours.

The probe, named"Lightning", is designed todetect everything from temperature to humidity once it gets off the groundno small accomplishment,according to Parkinson.

The kids' probe will actually hitch a ride along with a Canadian Space Agency stratospheric balloon flight.

"These guys are amazing. Just put them in front of a computer and they sit there and program these computers certainly coding and enthusiasm is out of this world."

The studentsmanaged to buildthe probe for only about $100.

The probealso includes two science fair projects from the same group which will measure the viability of plant seeds and collect samples of gasses.

Once the probe comes back down to earth the students will have a chance to further study theirdata.

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