Space Mariner kits give anyone a real high-altitude balloon flight. Families, scout troops, clubs, schools, and hobbyists build the payload, predict the path, launch it, track it to the stratosphere, recover it, and see what it recorded.
Everything you need for one complete near-space flight, with a step-by-step mission guide from the launch plan to the final data set.
Up past Mount Everest, past the jets, into a black sky. Then the balloon pops and your payload floats home under a parachute.
One flight's worth of hardware plus the mission guide.
Why the balloon grows as it climbs, and what sets the burst altitude.
Layers of the atmosphere, read straight from your own temperature data.
Designing a payload that survives cold, low pressure, and landing.
Graphing a real flight and comparing the prediction with the actual path.
Both editions fly the same balloon to the same altitude. What changes is how much you build yourself and how deep the activities go. Order as many kits as you need.
Every kit ships with a printed lesson guide that takes your crew step by step through the science, the build, the tests, the launch and the mission report. Each lesson lists materials, timing, what to say, discussion questions and a printable worksheet. No science background needed.
Pre-assembled data logger and tracker, so younger crews can focus on the flight and the science.
Teens and adults wire and program the data logger themselves, run their own flight prediction, and write a full mission report.
No limit on kit orders. Kits ship within the US, and every order includes a printed Mission Brief and lesson guide. Choose how many kits and add Missions 02–05 on the secure checkout page. Ordering for a large group, school, or event? Email us.
We fly a real balloon to the edge of space and record the whole flight. Your crew watches it, works with its real data, and builds hands-on experiments and a working sensor at home. No helium, no launch site, no chase.
Everything ships in one box. Families supply a laptop, eggs, a soda bottle, a flashlight and milk, a freezer and some stairs.
Each stage has its own activity, so everyone in your group has a role, not just the launch crew.
Your crew assembles the payload capsule, mounts the logger and tracker, and weighs everything.
Run a flight prediction from the forecast winds and plan where the payload is likely to land.
Fill, tie off, and release using the launch checklist, with everyone on a job.
Follow the balloon live on GPS as it passes the tropopause and climbs into the stratosphere.
A chase team drives to the landing site and brings the payload home.
Download the data, graph the flight, and write the mission report.
Each month we travel to one group for an in-person balloon launch at your location. Your family, youth group, club, school, or company gets the whole day: we mentor your group by video call in the weeks before the launch, then bring the kit, run the launch with you, and lead the chase and recovery.
One group per month. At checkout you choose Explorer or Cadet and tell us your location. We then set the exact date together on your first mentoring call. If weather grounds the flight, we move it to the next suitable day.
Mission 01 gets you flying. Missions 02–05 are add-ons that work with either edition (Mission 04 is best for ages 13 and up), each with its own hardware and a 3–5 lesson guide for a new science or engineering focus. Add them when you buy a kit, or buy one on its own. They ship as each one is released.
The complete first flight in Explorer (ages 8–12) and Cadet (ages 13+) editions, plus monthly in-person Launch Days.
Measure how temperature, pressure, and humidity change through each layer of the atmosphere.
Send live data from the payload to a ground station and learn how the signal gets there.
Design, test, and fly an original experiment under real weight and power limits.
Capture the curve of the Earth and the black sky above it from the edge of space.
Every Buy and Reserve button opens a secure Stripe checkout page. You choose quantities and add-ons there, pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and get an email receipt.
High-altitude balloon launches depend on wind, cloud cover, precipitation, and airspace conditions. Space Mariner decides whether conditions are safe on the scheduled Launch Day. If they are not, the launch moves to the next suitable day we agree on together, at no extra charge. Space Mariner is not responsible for delays, cancellations, lost time, travel costs, or other losses caused by weather or other conditions outside our control.
Kits must be assembled, launched, tracked, and recovered by following the included mission guide. Space Mariner is not responsible for damage, injury, loss of equipment or data, or failed flights caused by user error, including incorrect assembly, overfilling or underfilling the balloon, modified hardware, ignored instructions, or unsafe recovery attempts.
Every flight is different. Altitude, flight time, landing location, and data quality are not guaranteed, and a payload may land somewhere it cannot be safely recovered. Figures on this site are typical values, not promises.
You are responsible for following all federal, state, and local rules that apply to your flight, including FAA regulations for unmanned free balloons, and for getting permission to launch from and recover on any property. Never try to recover a payload from power lines, trees, roads, water, or private land without permission. Children must be supervised by an adult at all times.
To the fullest extent allowed by law, Space Mariner's total liability for any claim related to a kit, add-on, mentoring, or Launch Day is limited to the amount you paid for that item. Space Mariner is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages.
Launch activities take place outdoors and involve lifting gas, moving vehicles during recovery, and uneven terrain. By placing an order or attending a Launch Day, you accept these risks for yourself and for any minors in your care, and you agree to these terms.
