Lego man sent into space for school project

By Lauren Beavis

Footage shows a Lego man on a weather balloon being sent into space and crashing back down to Earth for a unique school project.

Staff and pupils at Gobowen Primary School in Shropshire sent up the weather balloon, with passenger Dan the Lego man attached alongside a small camera, into the atmosphere.

It went up on 18 June to measure temperature, wind, relative humidity, and pressure.

The video, which shows the Lego man's epic adventure up into space - and back down to earth - is over 13 minutes long and accompanied by dramatic music.

Despite the team losing contact with the balloon on the day they sent it up, they were delighted to see the tracker coming back online the following day, which revealed how it had landed in a quarry in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

The school team said the balloon reached a staggering minus 54 degrees Celsius, which suggested it went "well over 30,000 feet - maybe reaching in the region of 70,000 feet".

The balloon and Dan have since been retrieved, and Margaret Cameron, a Year Four teacher at the school, explained how the project, which finally paid off after two years of planning, came to fruition.

She explained: "Two years ago, a child in my year Four class asked if we could launch a weather balloon into the stratosphere, as he had seen some videos on the internet and was fascinated by it.

"I told him that we would have to put together a proposal to our headteacher for this kind of huge project, as the money it would cost for the equipment alone may mean it would be a no.

"We got our plan together and took it to our headteacher, Mr Walsh, who to mine and Daniel's (the child who initiated the idea) surprise, said yes."

From there, Margaret set about researching what equipment they would need and placed an order for the "complicated" equipment from Stratoflights in Germany.

She said: "I went to collect the equipment, and pay the import tax, and then opened a box of very complicated equipment!

"It seemed a lot more research was needed!

"Eventually, with lots of help, the equipment was sorted, all instructions had been read and permissions had been granted from Shropshire Council to launch from our school grounds.

"Insurances were also in place to cover any eventualities, and permission had been requested from the CAA (civil aviation authority).

"We had our very own Lego man made to go on this journey with our weather balloon and he was good to go on his adventure."

So, back in 2023, the team had planned their launch event and had invited parents to attend, but unfortunately, they had to cancel as they did not get aviation permission in time, and their next planned launch was foiled by the weather.

Two years later, in the final term before Daniel leaves Gobowen Primary School for secondary school, the team decided to make their third attempt.

Margaret explained how "this time, everything was perfect".

She said: "The permission was granted, the weather was good and we had plenty of helium, donated by Lindstrand Industries.

"The flight path and predicted landing zone, and time had been calculated using the Stratoflight online tool.

"Our weather balloon was to travel to 30,000ft and was predicted to land at 2.30 p.m. the same day in Derbyshire."

The whole school headed up to its playing fields for their launch on Wednesday, June 18 June at 11 a.m.

Margaret explained: "Mr Flack and I got our now-prepared weather balloon laid out, turned on all the equipment inside our 700-gram payload, and began filling the balloon with helium.

"We had to measure the neck-lift of the balloon (to get the correct amount of helium) with weights from our maths cupboard wrapped into a carrier bag!

"Our third and final launch attempt was a complete success, as our balloon disappeared into the sky to the cheers of our whole school community.

"It was success at last! The children were thrilled and filled with anticipation!"

However, shortly after Mr Walsh and Margaret headed off to collect the balloon, they realised that their tracking devices had failed.

Margaret said: "We searched the predicted landing zone but to no avail and headed back to let nearly 200 children know that the weather balloon had been lost.

"That Thursday morning, we had some very sad children asking lots of questions that we couldn't answer.

"Our reception teacher, Mrs. Boulton, immediately started to boost our hopes with her media campaign, demonstrating true resilience and problem-solving to our children whilst keeping their hopes of recovery alive!

However, by Thursday afternoon, when Margaret said it "seemed that all hope was lost," - then the tracking device "pinged" back into action.

The weather balloon and Dan the Lego man had landed in a quarry in Newark.

The team made a call to the quarry and their equipment, which was still intact, was recovered by the site manager.

Margaret said, "Our hope was restored.

"A rescue mission put into action, and by Monday, we had our equipment and Lego man back in school.

"The video footage was incredible, showing this amazing adventure from start to finish, but unfortunately, our data logger had failed, and we only have a few clues to why our Lego man's journey was not as expected.

"It appears that it reached minus 54 degrees Celsius, suggesting that it went well over 30,000ft, maybe reaching in the region of 70,000ft.

"Our helium was 99.9 percent helium, not the usual strength!

"And just maybe, our first attempt at getting things right doesn't always go to plan!"

The adventure has given Margaret, the pupils, staff, and the rest of the community a "real buzz".

She said the key message for everyone is to encourage children to "dream big".

Margaret added: "For that one child, he dared to dream and he asked and thought we would do it and support him.

"It's so important - the curriculum is set by the government, but when children's ideas are listened to and acted on, it makes such a difference to their whole school experience.

"Everyone has been so excited - and all the children and the staff will remember it forever!"