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]
