Teddy Bears in Space

A whole new era for teddy bear kind! Two teddy bears have been sent on a space mission! Oh, we wish we were the one enjoying the view of the earth.

Although they claim to be the first teddy bears sent into space, we are pretty sure that there were other bears who had been up there before...

Here's the story from UK.

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Teddy bears in space
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:08PM GMT 04 Dec 2008
Excerpt from Telegraph.co.uk

The toys, named MAT and KMS, were decked out in custom-made space suits and launched more than 18 miles above the Earth in the four-hour expedition.

The toys, bought from Mothercare specially for the mission, endured temperatures of minus 31F (-35C) as they were strapped to seats attached to a weather balloon made by Cambridge University's Space Flight science club.

A laptop attached to a webcam captured these stunning images of the bears looking down on Earth from nearly 100,000ft.

The world's first ever teddy space flight launched from Churchill College, in Cambridge, on Monday.

Pupils from nearby Parkside and Coleridge community colleges assisted scientists by creating space suits to stop the teddies from freezing solid.

After completing their mission the pair parachuted back to earth and made a soft landing near Ipswich just 50 miles from their launch pad.

Henry Hallam, 21, an aerodynamics student at Pembroke College at Cambridge, led the successful experiment to monitor weather conditions above the Earth.

He said: "We asked the children to build the space suits for the teddy bears and we monitored the temperatures inside and outside the suits.

"It was still pretty cold for the bears but they would be frozen solid if they didn't have their suits.

"The project was all about applying science into the real world. I think it's taught them a lot about running a real experiment.

"It was great to involve these young people in the Space Flight club, so they can learn about physics in a different and exciting way."

Thia Unsworth, 12, from Parkside College, helped to design the spacesuit for MAT.

She said: "It was unbelievable to see the balloon take off and it's incredible to see the pictures of the teddy bears in space.

"I've always loved science before, but I now understand how it helps in the real world."

Her classmate Sam White, 13, helped programme the camera to take pictures in space and let go of the balloon on Monday.

He said: "It was amazing to see it go up so quickly."

Dr Steve Hinshelwood, physics teacher at Parkside and Coleridge community colleges, said: "There has been a buzz around the school and students have been asking me questions about pressure in space and whether the teddy bears would have been freezing. They were wearing layers of foam and foil - and one of the suits was made from recycled materials.

"The balloon, which was made from latex and filled with helium, would eventually have burst as it swelled from six feet across to the size of a small house."