StratoShuttle Plans 120,000 Feet Flight

"Strato-Shuttle," a balloon-borne unmanned aerial vehicle with a 5-to-6-foot wingspan. The idea is that the balloon rises up to an altitude of more than 120,000 feet, and then releases the UAV to fly back to earth under remote control. Quest for Stars organizer Bobby Russell is recruiting student interns and plans to test the system in Mojave, Calif. — the same locale where the pros are working on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and XCOR Aerospace's Lynx.