It’s hard to believe that not one of Canada’s 12 astronauts figured out a way to use space shuttle’s Canada Arm to pop open a cool can of beer in space. Instead it appears that the title of ‘first beer in space’ goes to Danny and Rich who sent a can of Natural Light into the ‘Nattrosphere’ above rural Missouri.
It’s certainly not the first time that someone has sent an object with a camcorder into space attached to a weather balloon. Danny and Rich, inspired by YouTube videos of these projects, and a few cans of ‘Natty Light’ decided that they would be the ones to step up and send the first can of beer into space. They approached the brand with the idea; got the thumbs up, then the planning and preparation began at Mission Control in Danny’s parents’ garage.
On May 27th, with clearance and approval from the FAA, the two launched their spacecraft (dubbed the Aluminum Fullcan by one of Natural Light’s Facebook fans). The craft consisted of a styrofoam cooler containing a full can of beer, GPS tracking device, handwarmers (it’s cold in space) and a HD video camera pointed at an externally-mounted ’empty’ can of Natural Light.
The spacecraft took nearly 2 hours and ascended to a height of over 90,000 feet before the weather balloon finally popped. It then fell back to earth landing 60 miles from the launch site where Danny and Rich located it using the on-board GPS. The full can of beer escaped unharmed, and Natural Light is looking for suggestions about what to do with it.
via Brand Channel
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