VIDEO: The teddy bear who went into space (From Bournemouth Echo)

VIDEO: The teddy bear who went into space

9:00am Tuesday 5th March 2013 in News

A TEDDY bear launched into the stratosphere from the middle of the New Forest has returned to earth - bearing incredible video footage.

Attached to only a helium balloon, furry astronaut Derek the teddy bear, floated 21 miles up through the clouds and into the Earth’s stratosphere.

Derek, kitted out in a specially designed silver space suit, was launched from the depths of the New Forest on Sunday.

The footage is taken from his onboard camera shows Derek leaving our world behind as he floats up into the stratosphere – the second major layer of Earth’s atmosphere – before the balloon pops and he is sent spiralling back to terra firma.

His parachute deploys and the bear safely falls back down to Earth, landing on top of a 20ft tree in Chichester, West Sussex.

The project was a joint venture between Toynbee School in Chandler’s Ford and the University of Southampton.

Cait Percy, outreach officer for the university’s physics society, said: “We hope that showing children these amazing images from Derek’s visit to the stratosphere will inspire them to get involved with science and show them how cool space is.

“This was the culmination of their work related to space and for them to be able to see the views of the Earth is incredible.

“It was such a relief when we recovered Derek and he is doing very well.

“His outfit was in one piece so that protected him very well.”

She added that the experiment has proved such a success that they are looking to do it again, this time with another school who can suggest something else to send into space.