COLUMBIA (WACH) - Something from Midlands Tech went up into space...and no...it's not a student.
But a group of students did launch a high altitute balloon on Sunday afternoon.
The Differential Equations class from Midlands Tech's northeast campus attached a camera to the balloon to take film and photos.
The class will then use the data to learn about mathematical concepts like rates of speed and drag coefficients.
It's said to be a great way for the students to actually put into action what they've learned in school.
"We do a lot of real life modeling of real life events - water flow or temperature change or what not. So much of it is done in the classroom but this is a good opportunity for these guys to actually do some real life, hands on projects where they see a lot of this math actually come into action." says Devin Henson, the Differential Equations instructor in charge of the group.
The balloon went so high into the atmosphere it could actually see the curvature of the earth.
It finally popped and came to rest near Sumter, where the class was waiting to retrieve it.