David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Lego man sent to space by Toronto teens
CBC News
Jan 25, 2012
Eye-catching video shows plastic astronaut's entire journey
A pair of Toronto teens sent a Lego man into space, capturing their plastic astronaut’s entire 97-minute adventure in an eye-catching video.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17-year-old Grade 12 students at Agincourt Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, used a helium-filled balloon to send the Lego man into space 24 kilometers above sea level two weeks ago. They were inspired to try their mission after watching a video of a balloon sent to near space by some Massachusetts Institute of Technology students.
The Toronto students used a Styrofoam box containing four cameras and a cellphone fitted with a GPS program so their vehicle could be recovered. They even sewed the nylon parachute to ensure their Lego man would return to Earth safely.
The eye-catching images captured from the flight show the Lego man, gripping a Canadian flag, against a backdrop of a fast-shrinking skyline that gives way to the darkness of space.
Then the balloon pops and tumbles back to Earth. Ho and Muhammad were able to recover the balloon — with their astronaut intact — more than 120 kilometers from the field where it was launched.
CBC News
Jan 25, 2012
Eye-catching video shows plastic astronaut's entire journey
A pair of Toronto teens sent a Lego man into space, capturing their plastic astronaut’s entire 97-minute adventure in an eye-catching video.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17-year-old Grade 12 students at Agincourt Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, used a helium-filled balloon to send the Lego man into space 24 kilometers above sea level two weeks ago. They were inspired to try their mission after watching a video of a balloon sent to near space by some Massachusetts Institute of Technology students.
The Toronto students used a Styrofoam box containing four cameras and a cellphone fitted with a GPS program so their vehicle could be recovered. They even sewed the nylon parachute to ensure their Lego man would return to Earth safely.
The eye-catching images captured from the flight show the Lego man, gripping a Canadian flag, against a backdrop of a fast-shrinking skyline that gives way to the darkness of space.
Then the balloon pops and tumbles back to Earth. Ho and Muhammad were able to recover the balloon — with their astronaut intact — more than 120 kilometers from the field where it was launched.
He really should've been wearing a helmet though.
