Hello Kitty doll’s space trip

From the New York Daily News in the USA:

Girl sends Hello Kitty doll into near space for science project

Lauren Rojas of Antioch, Calif., wanted to test the effects of altitute on air pressure and temperature for school. She documented the journey taken by her furry friend who launched skyward.

By Michael Walsh

Saturday, February 2, 2013, 5:57 PM

That’s one small step for Hello Kitty, one giant leap for Hello Kitty fans.

A seventh-grade girl sent a Hello Kitty doll into near space for a science project, upstaging baking soda volcanoes worldwide.

When Lauren Rojas, a precocious 13-year-old from Antioch, Calif., decided to propel a weather balloon carrying a rocket through the stratosphere, she knew of one thing that would make the project even more exciting: Hello Kitty.

“I liked her ever since I was 6 years old,” Lauren told the Daily News. “My love for Hello Kitty has never gone away and I thought it would be really fun to add a toy inside the rocket.”

So Lauren strapped in her Hello Kitty doll that her [sic; her parents?] got her on a business trip in Tokyo. She collected the flight gear from High Altitude Science and attached GoPro Hero2 video cameras to record the journey.

U.S. researchers believe they have answered a long-standing question about how electrons in the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts can suddenly become energetic enough to kill orbiting satellites: here.

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