Project’s rise, fall, and dramatic rescue in bid to capture Earth’s good side

It was no ordinary school project.

It set out for the stratosphere, crossed the Beara peninsula from a height of 25km, and was rescued by the Coast Guard all within the space of eight hours.

But that was the lengths eight science students at Terence McSwiney Community College in Cork went to in a competition with 100 schools across the world. All of them are vying to take the best photos of the Earth from space.