High school teens send Lego man into space

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

Two Canadian high school students have used a homemade spacecraft to send a flag-carrying Lego man to the far reaches of the atmosphere.

Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used a weather balloon ordered online and a makeshift Styrofoam spacecraft to send the plastic astronaut 24km into the stratosphere, reports said.

Their high school principal Lecourgos Papathanasakis confirmed the "amazing voyage" to AFP, but neither of the teens was immediately available for comment.

An accelerated video clip posted online shows highlights of the Lego man during his 97-minute odyssey.

Ultimately, he is seen holding a Canadian flag with the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space in the background.

Canadian media said the pair had fitted a box tethered to the balloon with four cameras and a cellphone enabled with a GPS (global positioning system) device to capture the journey.

They then added a nylon parachute stitched on Muhammad's mother's sewing machine to ensure that Lego man would return to Earth safely.

The balloon was filled with helium purchased from a party supply store.

The whole enterprise cost less than $500.

The duo then consulted a website to calculate the estimated landing spot of the weather balloon based on launch coordinates, prevailing winds and other data before launching it from a soccer pitch in nearby Newmarket, Ontario.

At 7km in altitude, the balloon travelled out of mobile phone range and the GPS signal also cut out, so they went home and reportedly made dumplings.

Then Ho's iPad beeped. The Lego man had re-entered the atmosphere and touched down in a field 120km from the launch point.

High school teens send Lego man into space
Video's available through the link. Fly, Lego man! Fly!

[Dizzy]

I love how the article says they "reportedly made dumplings".

[Valigarmander]

Good to see the Canadian space program making progress.