A BOX sent 120,000ft (22 miles) up into the stratosphere after being attached to a weather balloon has been found near Bourton-on-the-Water.

The box, which contained 15 biodegradable paper aeroplanes, GPS trackers and video equipment, took off from Yate in Bristol on November 16th.

It climbed for about an hour-and-a-half before the bay doors of the box were programmed to open so cameras could record the planes, designed by schoolchildren, dropping down.

The helium balloon then burst, allowing the box to fall back down to earth, before landing with the aid of a parachute, which opened when the air got thicker during its descent.

Aerospace engineer Dave Curtis, who set up the project with help from his former colleague Chris Driscoll, told the Standard that the launch took months of planning.

Mr Curtis, 31, said: “The first thing you need to do is get a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority so they can send alerts to aircraft.

“You then have to pick your day carefully as it needs to be a low-wind day. We use flight planning software which tells us exactly where the box is due to land and at what time. It gives you a full flight plan - how long the helium balloon will be in the air and where in the atmosphere it will burst.”

Mr Curtis said he had planned the launch on an earlier date but the wind speed was so strong it was estimated the box would land somewhere in Norway.

When asked if he was surprised the box landed near Bourton-on-the-Water, - about 40 miles from where it took off - Mr Curtis replied: “Not really because on the day of the launch the wind speed was only about 10mph so it was predicted the box would land just south of Banbury and we were given regular real-time tracking updates so we knew roughly where to go”

Mr Curtis then received an alert from the GPS tracker inside the box, to tell him exactly where it landed.

So far only one of the paper aeroplanes, which all have a unique reference number and email address written on them, has been located. It was found in a field in Gloucester.

Mr Curtis continued: “Space doesn’t start until about 380,000ft but to put the height into context Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a balloon at 128,100ft to become the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound. Most aircraft couldn’t fly at this kind of height.”

He added: “We’re happy everything went to plan and the schoolchildren are mesmerised by the results.”

Anyone who finds a plane is asked contact Mr Curtis at info@faceinspace.co.uk