High in the fields of Gwynedd County in North Wales, a seemingly ordinary LEGO set experienced an incredible day when it spent almost 8 hours hovering near the edge of space before slowly falling back to solid ground. Sent Into Space attached the entire Project Hail Mary model to a piece of kit driven by a balloon and launched it on a perfectly clear March day. The payload steadily rose to 114,790 feet before spiraling back down and landing safely on the surrounding grass.
The employees at aerospace company Sent Into Space designed a special small platform to keep all the bricks in place during the long journey. They also added a handful of cameras and a GPS tracker so the team could trace the route in real time. The balloon carried the set 22 miles into the atmosphere, where the minifigures spun gently in the darkness, gazing down at the planet’s arc and the thin clouds clinging to its surface.
The set in question is from the LEGO Icons collection, which is based on the film Project Hail Mary. It included the Ryland Grace minifigure, which was based on Ryan Gosling’s role, the friendly extraterrestrial Rocky, and important spaceship components. Every piece remained exactly where it was supposed to be the entire time, due to the unique plinth, both during the flight and on the long voyage back. Recovery teams using GPS coordinates were able to locate the cargo as soon as it touched down, and they were relieved to discover that it had survived the adventure unscathed.
This flight now holds the record for the highest altitude launch and retrieval of a LEGO set, which is a true feather in the cap of the chaps and chapesses who made it happen. Sent Into Space had previously gained attention for sending an IMAX film trailer to dizzying heights in a prior stunt, and they went on to acquire a lovely shining certificate for their most recent effort. This new certificate was joyfully delivered to the charming film makers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller by some very happy officials.
Dr. Chris Rose, who leads all of Sent Into Space’s innovative projects, stated in his defense that this was a highly special endeavor for his team. He believes that incorporating a LEGO model into the flight kit added an extra layer of fun, and that the resulting images may simply show young people the joys of science and engineering; who knows, maybe we’ll see some super-intelligent engineers in the future. The collaboration also includes LEGO and Sony Pictures Releasing UK, resulting in a nice link between the toy and the film’s theme about a lone astronaut attempting to solve a planetary problem while being a long distance from home.
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