RISING stars have been given a lift after being inspired by a scientist who was once detained at gunpoint by US troops guarding the infamous Area 51.

Gifted geography students at Darlington School of Mathematics and Science worked with Dr Alex Baker, director of Sent into Space, constructing their own devices to carry cameras 30km high, before parachuting safely back to Earth.

They constructed an insulated camera mount, complete with parachute, tracking device and GPS, which Dr Baker promised to send into space.

Originally from Southside, near Butterknowle, Dr Baker began sending cameras on weather balloons into space on a whim while studying at Sheffield University, with spectacular results.

His collection of breath-taking pictures of the earth has attracted the likes of X-Box, Sony Music, Natwest, Sheffield University and SpecSaver.

His projects have ranged from putting a bear in space for a spectacles advert to collecting particles in the hunt for extra-terrestrial organisms.

Dr Baker described the moment his work almost got him into trouble in the Nevada Desert.

He said: “We launched a balloon from Death Valley and were tracking it back down into the mountains.

“All of a sudden, in an area not on the map, we saw signs saying ‘Test area, keep out’.

“Then there were guard towers and suddenly armed troops appeared and took us away for questioning.

“We think it was Area 51, the restricted zone where aliens are supposed to have landed, and we were detained for hours.”

“When they finally let us go we were followed back to Vegas and when we arrived back home we had all our bags searched – so we are probably on a list somewhere.”