Wrigley, the Above the Bell mission owl, giving a thumbs up

From the Classroom to the Edge of Space

Above the Bell curates a turnkey STEM mission for your class with customizable curriculum, student experiments, live flight data, and full launch-day logistics included.

Explore the Mission
  1. Learn
  2. Plan
  3. Build
  4. Launch
  5. Discover

How the Mission Works

Five guided steps take your students from classroom lessons to near-space, carrying student experiments on a high-altitude balloon that captures it all. Timelines are flexible: most classes complete the mission in 4–8 weeks. Along the way, Wrigley helps introduce each phase, explain the science, and keep the journey fun and easy to follow.

  • Guided mission lessons
  • Hands-on experiments
  • Live flight tracking
  • Near-space data & photos
Meet Wrigley, your mission guide

1Learn

Build the science foundation for flight

Before liftoff, students explore the science behind their mission, from weather and the atmosphere to satellites, space, and high-altitude balloon flight.

What You'll Do

  • Begin the 10 Mission Briefings that continue through launch and debrief
  • Claim a crew role and start the Mission Notebook
  • Study weather, the atmosphere, air density, and temperature at altitude
  • Connect the science to space, satellites, and the sensors they'll fly

What We'll Do

  • Deliver a customizable NGSS-aligned* curriculum in print, digital, or both
  • Send a welcome kit to kick off the mission with the class
  • Support teachers and students as Mission Briefings continue across the mission
  • Prepare the next phase while your class works at their own pace
10 briefings across the mission Print or digital materials Self-paced by default
Wrigley pointing at a detailed mission flight plan on a whiteboard

Mission Objectives

  • Learn how balloons reach near‑space
  • Explore the layers of the atmosphere
  • Claim a crew role & meet the sensors

2Plan

Turn the science into a mission plan

Using digital Mission Control and real forecast data, students choose a launch day, refine their mission teams, and predict how their experiments will perform.

What You'll Do

  • Use digital Mission Control to plan the launch
  • Choose a launch day based on forecasted weather, and select flight sensors
  • Predict the flight path, landing zone, and experiment results
  • Choose and prepare experiments; refine teams around weather, flight, and payload

What We'll Do

  • Unlock digital Mission Control for your class
  • Recommend launch days, experiments, and flight paths based on the forecast
  • Review and approve the mission plan, then coordinate logistics
  • Ship the payload box to the classroom
Digital Mission Control Weather-based planning Experiment predictions
Mission planning scene: a calendar with the launch day circled, a map showing the launch site, predicted flight path, and landing zone target

Mission Objectives

  • Pick the launch day & site
  • Choose the flight sensors
  • Predict the flight path & landing zone
  • Choose & prepare experiments
  • Refine mission teams

3Build

Pack the payload and finalize the plan

With the kit on-site for a week, students choose and prepare their experiments, pack sensors into the payload, dig deeper into how the sensors work, and finalize the mission plan before pickup.

What You'll Do

  • Choose and prepare experiments, then pack them with your selected sensors
  • Learn more about how each sensor works and what it measures
  • Review and finalize the mission plan with your team
  • Have the payload ready for pickup, one week before launch day

What We'll Do

  • Guide payload packing and sensor setup
  • Help the team review and finalize the mission plan
  • Finalize launch-day logistics, including FAA and other regulatory approvals and notices
  • Keep the kit on-site for a full week before pickup
  • Pick up the payload for final readiness checks
Payload packing Sensor deep dive One week on-site
Final launch preparations: an open payload capsule with foam slots, sensor modules to choose from, science experiment vials, and a pre-flight checklist

Mission Objectives

  • Choose, prepare & pack experiments
  • Learn how the sensors work
  • Finalize the mission plan

4Launch

Watch the mission fly, live

On launch day, students log in and watch their mission in real time, while Above the Bell handles the physical launch, recovery, and every safety detail in between.

What You'll Do

  • Log in to Mission Control to watch the launch live
  • Track the flight path and sensor data as the balloon climbs
  • View live camera snapshots streamed from near space
  • Follow the mission through landing and recovery

What We'll Do

  • Launch and track the balloon under strict safety and FAA protocols
  • Track the balloon's descent and meet it at the landing site
  • Announce the official landing-prediction contest winner
  • Ship the recovered payload and experiments back to the class
Live mission tracking FAA-compliant launch Landing prediction contest

5Discover

Bring the mission home and turn flight data into discoveries

Once the payload is back in the classroom, students unpack their experiments, analyze real mission data, and see how their predictions held up.

What You'll Do

  • Unpack the returned payload and experiments
  • Review the mission results and analyze what the data shows
  • Compare the actual results to your predictions from Plan
  • Share your mission discoveries with the class or school

What We'll Do

  • Deliver the recovered payload and experiments back to school
  • Send every student a certificate and mission patch
  • Award a prize to the landing-prediction contest winner
  • Support the class as they review and analyze their results
Certificates & mission patches Landing contest prize Real mission data
Recovery scene: the Above the Bell recovery van arriving at the landed payload capsule with its parachute, and a tablet showing near-space photos and flight data

Mission Objectives

  • Unpack the returned payload
  • Analyze the flight data
  • Share mission discoveries
Recovered payload descending on an orange and white parachute
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