Students at Marshall school have been launching a weather balloon equipped with a camera and data gathering equipment since 2013. This year a larger balloon went higher than ever, and collected more data and 360 videos. The extra boost came from assistance from Trail Genius, a company that maps and provides data to trail-based events and clubs. Marshall science teacher David Johnson fills us in on the project.

DJ: I met Jason at the Birkie where I carried his camera so that he could make a Trail Genius map about the Birkie Trail like he did for Hilltopper 6.

After hearing about our ballooning project, Jason offered up his camera and expertise to help us film the flight in 360 degree video. What he did for us is so much more than I ever could imagined, he has given so much of himself to this project.

A timelapse of the entire flight.

The launch and ascent Part 1. The launch and ascent Part 2.

Slow motion video of the balloon exploding at the top of the ascent.

Descent.

A video blog documenting the recovery of the balloon, cameras and equipment.

A summary of the videos and the data collected can be seen on the Trail Genius site.