The Arizona-based company World View lofted two payloads during an umanned balloon flight Sunday (March 8) from southeastern Arizona. The mission was part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate's Flight Opportunities Program, which flies experiments designed by students, educators and researchers.

"World View is committed to furthering stratospheric exploration and research," Taber MacCallum, World View's chief technology officer, said in a statement. "Our first flight as a NASA flight service provider marks the launch of our commercial efforts to aid research and education by providing a new way for NASA and others to access near-space."