The fuzzy new face of space exploration
Posted 12.05.2008 at 3:54 pm
5 Comments
Teddy Bears in Space
Cambridge University
Leave it to English schoolchildren, the scientific minds behind Winnie the Pooh and Paddington, to achieve the latest astronautical milestone -- sending teddy bears into space.
On Monday, a helium balloon buoyed a quartet of bears 100,000 feet up, to the edge of space, where they sampled the rarefied top of the atmosphere. Sensors monitored the extreme temperatures they experienced -- more than 60 degrees Fahrenheit below zero -- though the bears themselves kept snug in foil spacesuits custom-made for them by the preadolescent mission control team.
After the balloon burst, a parachute carried the small crew safely back to England's green and pleasant land.
[Via the Daily Mail]
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Wow, for once a WORTH WHILE milestone in space exploration!!! [/end sarcasm]
Great for the kids but couldn't we spend the money on something better than making Winnie the Pooh cold? If they want -60 degree teddy bears get a commercial freezer and crank up the electricity.
scrooge.
@scubasdsteve87: If it's getting kids interested in science, it's worth the cost. In any case, it doesn't cost that much to put a helium balloon up there.
Plus, they had sensors on the rig. They would have gathered data that could then be used to teach the children, and the fact that they had actively participated in the gathering of that data would have made it all the more interesting for them.
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." -- Nikola Tesla
from piscataway, NJ
I'd like to ride a balloon to space and back.... when will this be available to the public?
from piscataway, NJ
I'd like to ride a balloon to space and back.... when will this be available to the public?