ROCKFORD, Mich. — An unidentified flying object landed just north of Grand Rapids earlier this week, and it was a team effort to bring it back down to Earth.
A weather balloon, created as a science project by middle schoolers in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, began its journey Monday morning.
"Our goal for this project was send it to Europe," says Logan Doucette, an eight grade student at Central Wisconsin STEM Academy.
It was intended to go across the pond, possibly as far as Romania. But the pond the balloon made it across was much smaller than they planned.
The balloon came to a stop in West Michigan.
"It went about 250 miles and it took about eight hours," says Chris Goodwin, the students' teacher.
Specifically, it landed in a tree in Townsend Park near Rockford. A GPS tracker the balloon carried sent the coordinates back to Wisconsin.
"I looked for the closest middle school because one of our intents was to connect to another school if possible," says Goodwin.
He emailed East Rockford Middle School. Soon afterwards, fellow science teacher Cristine Blasky jumped into action to find it.
"We found it pretty quickly way up in a tree," says Blasky. "So the next thought was, okay, so now what?"
Blasky got in touch with the Cannon Township Fire Department, but the balloon was too high for them to reach. Plainfield Township Fire had the solution, a bucket truck that could extend high enough. The crew was happy to help.
"When people call us, 90% of time it's the worst day of their life, and that wears on our guys," says District Chief Jeff Drake. "So whenever we get a chance to do something simple, civic-minded, community-minded, we take that opportunity."
The firefighters were impressed with the students' work.
"It's actually real cool," says equipment operator Nick Grady. "I've never seen something like that."
Their scientific journey, just like their balloon, is only just beginning.
"We're going from scratch and playing with different ideas," says Goodwin. "And that's what makes what they're doing unique and special."
Goodwin is making the drive to West Michigan next week to collect the balloon, with the students fully intent to work out the kinks and get it all the way to Europe the next time.
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