Neil Armstrong. Buzz Aldrin. John Glenn. Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty?
Lauren Rojas, a 13-year-old girl from Antioch, California, charmed the hearts of thousands of earthlings this week when she launched her Hello Kitty doll into space as part of a project for her school's science fair.
It's an inspiring story, and an emphatic statement against those who claim girls can't keep up with boys in science and math. But why Hello Kitty? Turns out there's a pretty simple reason for blasting off a gift her father bought her from Japan.
"I liked her ever since I was six years old," said Lauren to 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."
Lauren's project involved testing the effects of altitude on air pressure and temperature, and in order to build the necessary equipment, she recruited her father, Rodney Rojas, to help her. The two attached video cameras to record the flight and ordered other material from a Colorado-based company.
"We spent about one month planning and executing it," he said to ABC News. "We used a company called High Altitude Science in Colorado to get the equipment, the weather balloon and flight computer."
"In the end it really turned out to be much more than a science experiment. It's something that we will remember for a long time," he added.
After lift-off, Hello Kitty and Co. reached heights of 93,625 feet above the planet (more than 17 miles!) before the air became so thin that the balloon popped, sending Lauren's feline friend tumbling the same distance back down to earth.
Lauren used the video to create a YouTube video of the entire trip, linking together the most dramatic moments and setting the event to music. In the end, it wasn't just her parents that were impressed.
"I said, 'Wow, are you serious?'" said Lauren's teacher, Annette Cluck of Cornerstone Christian School, to ABC News. "I was kind of blown away because usually students don't do something that extravagant."
We have to wait and see if Lauren's space-bound project will win first place at the science fair, but it's safe to say she's probably the runaway favorite.
Check out the video below.
