On December 6, 2008 the California Space Grant Consortium sponsored the first student-run balloon launch for the MAE department at UC San Diego where the payloads were designed and engineered by freshmen from the MAE-002 Aerospace Engineering class.

The balloon was launched at 11:50 AM from Plaster City, California and reached a peak of 84,000 feet at 1:10 PM over Brawley, California where it burst after reaching “near-space”. It then descended to the desert near Glamis, California at roughly 2:50 PM, approximately 65 miles from the launch site.

The MAE-002 Aerospace Engineering class is taught by Professors Keiko Nomura and John Kosmatka. Graduate students Andrew Cavender and Zach Lovering played an instrumental role in assisting the undergraduate students with this project. To view the picture book please click here.