A group of Cockermouth students are aiming high - and creating a special balloon to launch into the stratosphere.

The 10 students from Cockermouth School are taking part in a challenge set by REACT Engineering.

For their mission to be successful, the students must manage to record 360-degree video footage of the balloon ascending into the blackness of space and descending. As well as this, the team must record information such as temperature, air pressure and radiation levels.

Two other teams are taking part in the Elevated Horizons balloon project, from UTC and West Lakes Academy.

Student Jack Ivision said: "The idea behind it is to challenge each of the students and see their different approaches to solving the problems that they will face.

"The teams are competing to see who can capture the most mesmerising footage."

Project manager Sam Moore said: “It’s been such a challenging project, but the team has really stuck together and we’re almost ready to launch, which is fantastic”.

The project was set up by REACT to challenge aspiring young engineers in order to expand their skills. The team has also been getting advice from local engineering firm CREATEC as well as past students from Cockermouth School who took part in a similar project a few years ago.

Pete Woolaghan, of REACT foundation, said: "We at the Foundation are excited to learn about the team’s experiences on the project and ultimately view the footage the team’s payload brings back to earth.

"Elevated Horizons is a fantastic way to engage students in science, engineering and technology and encourage them to look at these disciplines for a career."

The team plan to launch the balloon payload in the next few weeks at Cockermouth school.

"We can't give a specific date because the balloon launch is dependant on the weather conditions which we can only monitor within a 72 time period before the launch," said Jack.

They are inviting local primary schools to take part in a competition to design a logo.