On 15 September, students from Spain, Sweden and Belgium watched in eager anticipation as their experiments took to the air on the first ESA STRAtospheric PLatform EXperiment (STRAPLEX) campaign.
 
The launch of the helium balloon and the STRAPLEX capsule from the Évora airfield in Portugal marked the culmination of more than a year of preparation by the student teams. The launch campaign began at the University of Porto on 12 September and continued over the following day as the five experiments were integrated with the capsule.

On Sunday, 14 September, the teams were transported to the launch site ready for the long-awaited lift off on Monday morning.

On board the balloon were four experiments provided by schools in Sweden and Belgium, along with a Spanish experiment from University Miguel Hernandez, Elchein. Another experiment, from the University of Porto, had also been selected for the campaign, but was held over for a flight later this year. Two more teams, from Norway and the UK had decided not to participate after an unexpected delay due to technical reasons. 

The flight proved to be a great success as the balloon and its STRAPLEX payload rose to an altitude of about 30 km, high in the stratosphere. Drifting in a light breeze, they travelled about 25 km from the launch site in just under 2 hours. The capsule was then cut free, allowing it to descend and make a soft parachute landing. (...)

 Courtesy: ESA

 Full story in: http://www.esa.int/esaED/SEM85F6EJLF_index_0.html