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‘Up, up and away:’ St. John students launch weather balloon into stratosphere

By Alyssa Choiniere achoiniere@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School students hold a weather balloon as it begins to rise Friday morning with Principal Christine Roskovensky and high-altitude balloonist Mike Aesoph of Uniontown (right). The balloon launch was a part of the school’s STEm program.

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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School students hold a weather balloon as it fills with helium before its launch Friday morning. The balloon was launched as part of the school’s STEM project. Pictured from left are 8th Graders Sophia Fisher and Marques Murray, STEM Leader Mike Aesoph, Assistant Pat Conley and 8th grader Michael Miller.

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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

Mike Aesoph of Uniontown, a veteran of high-altitude ballooning, releases a weather balloon from a Uniontown City Fire Department truck Friday morning. He worked with students and faculty at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic school as part of a STEM project.

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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School students watch a weather balloon disappear after it was launched through a STEM project Friday morning. From left are Halie Pletcher, Michael Miller and Evan Jellots.

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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

Assistant Pat Conley holds a weather balloon as high-altitude balloonist Mike Aesoph of Uniontown prepares equipment and St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School students look on Friday morning.

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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

High-altitude balloonist Mike Aesoph of Uniontown holds a weather balloon with assistant Pat Conley Friday morning as they prepare to launch the balloon at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School. The weather balloon launch was part of the school’s STEM program.

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Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard

St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School students hold a weather balloon as it fills with helium before its launch Friday morning. The balloon was launched as part of the school’s STEM project. Pictured far right is STEM Leader Mike Aesoph and from left are Assistant Pat Conley, 8th Graders Michael Miller, Arianna Torres, Ann Kania, Ava Sturdevant, Sophia Fisher and Marques Murray.

St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School students launched a weather balloon Friday morning that made a journey of about 100 miles at altitudes reaching 108,000 feet.

“Science is endless,” said Renee Petrovich, science and math teacher at St. John. “You get the kids excited, and that’s what’s really exciting about it.”

The school teamed up with Mike Aesoph of Uniontown, a veteran of high-altitude ballooning, who works with area Boy Scout troops and launches balloons in STEM programs.

A small group of students held the balloon steady Friday as it filled with helium and their peers looked on from the parking lot. The students’ work began last year, when the class assembled the balloon and parachute and calculated payloads to establish a trajectory. Two students, Dante Nutt and Ayden Kiefer, worked with Aesoph to design the payload box using 3-D CAD, or computer-aided design, software.

Aesoph released the balloon from a Uniontown City Fire Department ladder truck as the students cheered and strained to track it before it disappeared into the overcast sky. The students used GPS to track the balloon, calculate its route, gather data, observe atmospheric conditions and collect video images. Aesoph used the GPS to chase the balloon and collect the equipment after it popped.

Petrovich said the cameras successfully captured the entire flight, and she and students were excited to watch the footage.

The balloon nearly made it to its target of Waterfall, about 24 miles east of the area it landed.

The project began when Aesoph and Petrovich teamed up to wrote a grant proposal for the project, called “Up, Up and Away,” which includes four balloon launches. The Innovation Grant of nearly $4,000 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg funded the project to provide STEM education opportunities to students.

The launch was originally scheduled for May 8, but was postponed due to COVID-19. Petrovich said the students were disappointed the launch was postponed, but that it gave them something to look forward to.

A “pico” balloon that was launched July 29 as another part of the grant project is on its fourth trip around the world. Students are tracking its progress.

“It’s south of France. It’s in the Mediterranean right now,” Aesoph said.

Petrovich said only 100 balloons of that type have successfully launched.

“It’s amazing. It’s amazing that it’s still going,” she said. “It survived a hurricane.”

The school plans to launch two more balloons as a part of the grant project.

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