Friday, December 05, 2008

Bears... In... Spaaaaaaaaaace.....

Four Teddy-Bears were blasted to the edge of space by university boffins at Churchill College in Cambridge. The cuddly toys were attached to a helium balloon and launched 30,000-metres into the atmosphere.

They were fitted out with space suits designed by schoolchildren from the city as the toys braved freezing temperatures. The computer-controlled quartet, who were fitted with a GPS system and camera to track their progress, landed safely just north of Ipswich, Suffolk, following their pioneering flight of just over two hours. Cambridge University said the project was part of an initiative to "engage local schoolchildren in science and engineering".

The project was overseen by the Cambridge University spaceflight team - a student-run society launched two years ago. Ed Moore, one of its 10 members, said: "There can be few more worthwhile things for us to do than to try and provide that spark for the current generation of school kids. We had a fantastic time working with the kids."

Lt. Colonel "Whopper" Creedon of U.N.E.T.I.D.A., denied reports that he had a flight of Harriers scrambled from the RAF station in Wattering to deal with an "imminent danger" at the same time of the bears' flight and was unavailable for comment.

Source: Press Association

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I understand that the AstroTeds took up a payload of honey, only to have it hijacked by Space Bees. Where were you then, Lt. Col.???

Bruce Russell said...

"SPACE BEES!!! OUR WEAPONS ARE USELESS!!! AYIEEE!!!"

Major General Creedon said...

Shit! So long as they don't team up with the spider that got loose on the space station and combine themselves with Colbert's DNA we should be OK.