<p>Outfitted in a homemade spacesuit, "Camilla" the rubber chicken rides into the stratosphere on March 3 as part of an experiment to measure solar radiation at point-blank range.</p><p>Students with Bishop Union High School in California launched the chicken—the mascot of <a href="http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/">NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory</a>—before and during a solar storm. For both flights Camilla wore a pair of radiation badges of the same kind used by medical technicians and nuclear workers to assess dosages.</p><p>The results will help the students design a future astrobiology project to test whether certain species of microbes can survive the harsh conditions at the edge of space.</p>