On a recent rainy afternoon at Riley Park, Stall High School students gathered in the outfield.

The students, ROTC cadets and English-language learners, launched a nearly 4-pound weather balloon bearing a video camera about 200 feet into the air. On the mezzanine next to the press box, students gathered around a satellite dish and a computer screen, monitoring the images coming in from the camera.

On the giant videoboard at Riley Park, the same images flashed on the screen.

"That's crucial," said Stall teacher Maria Royle. "We have to make sure we can get our images to them to show on the Jumbotron."

Stall High School students practice launching a weather balloon as they prepare to work with NASA to live-stream the "Great American Eclipse" on Aug. 21.Charleston County School District/Provided

The exercise was a dry run for what NASA is calling the "Great American Eclipse," the total eclipse of the sun on Aug. 21. The eclipse will mark the first time in 99 years that a total solar eclipse will occur across the entire continental U.S., with the area just north of Charleston in the path for optimal viewing.

The Stall High students, wearing "Team Warrior" T-shirts, are among the many high school and college students working with NASA to study and live-stream the eclipse.

On Aug. 21, Royle and her students will gather again at Riley Park, this time to launch their helium-filled balloon and its camera more than 100,000 feet into the air. From there, the balloon's equipment will capture video and other data for use by NASA.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Royle, who teaches English as a second language, math and science at Stall. "The students are learning computer skills, science, weather data, programming and a lot of teamwork.

"We have worked them really hard, and they've put in a lot of hours on this."

Morgan McClure, a rising junior at Stall, is an ROTC officer and chief of cybersecurity for his unit.

"My main job is programming, and we are using a couple of different video clients to stream our camera to NASA," he said. "And then NASA will stream it onto their site.

"Our satellite dish will connect to the balloon and tell us where the payload lands after the eclipse. It could be in the marsh, in the sea, in somebody's backyard. We have to be able to retrieve it and return it to NASA."

Stall High School teacher Maria Royle (left) discusses the school's joint project with NASA to live-stream the "Great American Eclipse" on Aug. 21 with SMSgt (Ret) Gale Rickert and ROTC cadet and student Chelsey Graham.Charleston County School District/Provided

Royle, a native of Puerto Rico, said the project has been rewarding for her English-language learners.

"They were a little nervous at first about it," she said. "But I tell them, the sky is the limit for them. I'm bilingual and an English-language learner myself, so I've been where they are."

The public can come out to Riley Park on Aug. 21 to view the Stall students in action, and watch the images on the videoboard.

"What we're doing has never been done before," Royle said. "So we'll see how it works. NASA is eager to see the data and the pictures that we will be able to get."

NASA says viewers around the world will be able to view video from 11 spacecraft, including three of NASA's, and more than 50 high-altitude balloons, and from the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Reach Jeff Hartsell at (843) 937-5596. Follow on Twitter @Jeff_fromthePC

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Stall High School students ready for NASA's 'Great American Eclipse' project - Charleston Post Courier