Teddy Claremont goes to Space!

One small step for bear, one giant leap for Claremont-kind! Yes, that’s right…we sent a teddy to space!

On Monday 24 of May, twelve Pre-Prep and Prep pupils, along with one very brave bear, ventured to Buckinghamshire. The mini bus dropped them off at European Astrotech, a company that specialise in liquid propellants and the engineering of spacecraft chemical systems (in simple terms, they launch things into space).

After the children were welcomed to the science and technology park by real life rocket scientists, Heidi and Brad, they were given a short talk about previous launches that European Astrotech had previously done. This also gave an opportunity for the children to ask some questions about launching Teddy Claremont into the Earth’s atmosphere. The children wanted to know “How do you know where he will land?”, “Will he get too hot or too cold?” and “Does he need any snacks for the journey?”. Expert, Heidi, reassured the children and answered all the questions the best that she could.

Next, Heidi showed the pupils some model rockets that had been launched into space before. This made the children even more excited for Teddy Claremont’s mission!

The moment finally arrived. Fully kitted out with helmet and astronaut gloves, Teddy Claremont was ready to launch. House Teddy was standing by as ground control making sure all final checks were completed prior to take off (unfortunately he failed the physical to fly). With the giant helium balloon filled and ready to go with Teddy Claremont securely attached, the students started to count down. Suddenly, Teddy Claremont got whipped up and soared hundreds of metres into the air.

After while we had an update from Brad and Heidi who said that when Teddy Claremont made it to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere, his helium balloon popped and he descended via bright orange parachute.

We wish him safe travels and hope he returns from his space mission soon!