'Once In A Lifetime' Space Opportunity For RAF Air Cadets

RAF Air Cadets at the National Aerospace Camp have sent their own space payloads 100,000ft high.

The cadets were at RAF Syerston, where they designed and built their own weather balloon payloads.

Attached to the balloon were two boxes assembled by the cadets, each containing tracking equipment and cameras to capture photos from the Earth's atmosphere.

The National Aerospace Camp's Keelia Scott said the activities will help build on their knowledge on aerospace.

She said it gives them a chance to combine their basic knowledge on "buoyancy, lift, air resistance and things like that - as well as their radio knowledge".

"It gives the cadets a project that will bring all of the different areas of aerospace together and give them a finished result at the end," Ms Scott said.

It is part of the week-long National Aerospace Camp, which brings 400 cadets and staff from across the country to RAF Syerston for aerospace and aviation-inspired events. 

In preparation for the launch, the balloon was filled with helium and last minute checks were carried out.

One of the boxes had the cadets photos attached in the hope the camera would capture them in a surreal photo.

For some cadets at the camp, this is a valuable experience in pursuing their career goals.

One of the cadets who was attending the camp, said: "I want to study aerospace engineering and then I want to be a pilot in the Navy.

"I came to this aerospace camp to increase my knowledge about the subject."

Another cadet said she joined the camp because what they get to do is a "once in a lifetime opportunity".

"This is what I live for - I love the air cadets.

"It's something I want to go into in the future and hopefully become an engineer," she added.

Just as the balloon launched the GPS signal failed.

So they are now using scientific calculations to try and find where the boxes landed after they fell back to earth.

The cadets hope the devices captured a range of images of Earth.