Pudding Lost In Space

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By  Allison Shoemaker

There's an episode of The West Wing I really like where Bartlet is all excited about a Mars probe, because space travel is amazing, so of course he is. They lose contact with the probe, and then it's all inspiring and stuff, because they decide to do a live event anyway and talk about discovery and failure with a bunch of school kids, music swells, the whole deal. This story is a lot like this, but with dessert.

On Monday, a Bakewell pudding—Newsweek describes it as "a traditional English jam, almond and pastry dessert"—was launched into space, along with some tracking devices, by students at S. Anselm's Preparatory School in Derbyshire. Per the BBC, it was attached to a high altitude balloon, and students hoped it would reach 114,000 feet. It reached a paltry, frankly embarrassing height of 52,500 feet when those loser kids lost contact with their space pastry.

Sending dessert to the edge of the atmosphere sounds pretty cool all on its own, but these kids weren't content to merely launch this sucker. They also had to go and make it a good deed, too. Liz Scott, the school's director of studies, told the BBC that her students "raised about £1,600 for the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity" by asking local businesses for sponsorship.

Last year, in preparation for this experiment, the school sent a high-altitude balloon into space, and when it fell to earth, a couple called the school to alert them to the find. S. Anselm's hopes that happens this time, too. So hey, if you find a big pastry in your yard attached to a bunch of science equipment, give them a call.

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