September 15, 2015
Image of the Week: Cat at the Edge of Space
The Yeung family cat (or rather, an image of the family cat) is seen at about 70,000 feet above Earth’s surface. ©Winston Yeung
Two bright and determined young scientists, Kimberly and Rebecca Yeung, built a helium balloon attached with a Go-Pro camera, an image of their cat Loki, and a lego, sending it over 70,000 feet in the air. Called the “Loki Lego Launcher,” this was just one of several projects the girls (8 and 10 years old) have launched.
Though this is obviously a very cool image, the best part is that the Yeung sisters drafted a “Lessons Learned” document to help them improve their next flight. Their findings, like “Don’t stop trying: you will never know if you don’t ask” or “Always be optimistic: we thought everything went wrong, but everything went right,” are important lessons for any scientist.
The Yeung sisters’ “Lessons Learned” document. ©Winston Yeung
Read more about the Yeung sisters’ project here:
- GeekWire: Two Seattle girls launched a balloon to the edge of space this weekend, and have the video to prove it
- Washington Post: Adorable queens of science send balloon (plus 1 cat picture) to the edge of space
To learn more about Earth’s atmosphere, visit our module The Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere.
Written by Eric Dillalogue
Eric Dillalogue holds a MS in Library and Information Science and a BA in English. He has worked in a variety of roles from service industry management, academic libraries, and grant administration. He has taught courses on information literacy, web research, and developmental reading. Eric joined the Visionlearning team as a project manager in 2014.
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