A teddy bear has returned home after being launched 100,000ft into space.

Pupils at King’s Rochester Preparatory School sent Roffa into the stratosphere after months of planning.

They were given permission from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The teddy was tied to a large helium-filled weather balloon and launched from the school’s playing field in Boley Hill.

The whole journey was recorded on a GoPro camera.

Footage shows the curvature of the earth taking in the Thames Estuary, the Isle of Wight and across the English Channel to France.

It is estimated Roffa reached 30,000 metres – 100,000ft – and flew 16 miles before the balloon exploded due to altitude pressure.

On the way down, a parachute attached to the bear was opened and he made the descent back to ground.

Roffa was in the air for around four-and-a-half hours and the GoPro stopped recording an hour before he was found in Hadlow, near Tonbridge.

John Jones, head of computing, and Magnus Caithness, head of science, led the project nicknamed Operation Cosmic Dust.

Mr Caithness said: “We recovered Roffa at around 7pm from Hadlow, but we think he landed at about 6.15pm.

“A very nice couple were enjoying an evening in their garden when they saw a peculiar object falling from the sky.

“They noticed where it landed and retrieved it, read the notice on it and called our number.

“We were just a mile away looking where the last GPS signal had been sent from.”

Pupils, aged eight to 13, have been learning about space as part of the project.

They chose to name the teddy bear Roffa as former pupils call themselves Old Roffensians.

Footage from the teddy’s adventure is currently being downloaded. The project was funded by the school.

The project has been documented on Twitter @RoffaTheBear and on an online blog. For more information, visit the blog.