The West Point Astronomy and Amateur Radio Clubs joined for their annual Balloon Satellite Launch. Thirteen cadets from across the academic spectrum were joined by three faculty members (Astronomy: Dr. Paula Fekete, LTC Diana Loucks, HAM Radio: LTC Stephen Hamilton) as well as other HAM operators from across the community for the operation. The official launch time was 1:59:00 EDT from Salt Springs State Park in Pennsylvania, and the last official transmission prior to landing was at 5:27:30 EDT on Limeridge Road, Poughquag, NY, for a total flight time of 3 hrs. and 28.5 minutes.
The payload (the big white Styrofoam box) achieved an altitude of 103549.2126 ft prior to balloon burst and included several experiments and fun items including a Geiger-counter (highest measurements were 3668 CPM and 220080 μSv/hr pending post processing), and a WiFi detection experiment detected MySpectrumWiFib8-2G at 32852.69029 ft. A few other experiments were on board including a weather sensor to detect pressure and temperature, as well as imagery devices to include the first ever Pi-cam.