"It was an unexpected adventure": Derbyshire family discover crash-landed weather balloon outside house
A Chesterfield family had an unexpected encounter with a crash-landed UFO over the weekend after they discovered the remains of a high-altitude scientific device in their quiet residential street.
As they headed out for a for a family walk at around 6.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday, May 27, Stuart Shaw’s ten-year-old daughter Alice spotted something unusual where they live on Laxfield Close, Walton.
Stuart, a languages teacher at Heanor Gate Spencer Academy, said: “There was a long cord stretching across the street, with one end suspended in a tree and the other reaching over a neighbour's roof. It must have been about 30 metres long, and it must have come down that day.
“At first we thought someone had crashed a kite, but we went over to investigate and at end hanging from the roof we found a large burst weather balloon with its parachute attached. It looked like a shredded rubbery squid.”
Abandoning their evening plans, the family instead set about retrieving object, aided by another neighbour who had come out to see what they were doing.
Stuart said: “It was a slightly tricky job, but quite exciting. We managed to dislodge the end that was in the tree. The other end was caught up in the roof tiles. It was still stuck there last time I checked.”
Attached to the end they were able to retrieve was an electronic device, which identified it as a weather sensor used by the Met Office.
Stuart said: “I did a quick bit of online research and apparently they launch thousands of these every year to take accurate temperature and pressure measurements at altitudes of up to 40 kilometres.
“The code on this one indicates it came for the Nottingham Weather Centre in Watnall – nowhere too exotic, but it was interesting to think how it had ended up coming down in Chesterfield.”
The Met Office issues advice on the proper disposal of such instruments once they are found, but for now this one is sat in the bedroom of Stuart’s 13-year-old son, James.
Stuart said: “He’s into gadgets and gizmos so he’s keeping this as a souvenir. It was an unexpected adventure just outside our own front door.”