Pioneers Lose First Cheese In Space
“It was supposed to be a small step for a cheese – and a giant leap for cheesekind. But attempts to send the first lump of cheddar into space ended in disaster yesterday when organisers lost track of their precious payload minutes after lift-off. The stunt – which owes more to good old British eccentricity than Neil Armstrong – was an attempt by a West Country cheesemakers’ group to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings. At 4.30am, they launched a weather balloon attached by a pole to a capsule containing a digital camera, a GPS tracking device and a 300g lump of Somerset farmhouse cheddar glued to a plate. It was supposed to fly 19 miles into the upper atmosphere before the balloon burst and the capsule floated back to earth on a parachute. But within ten minutes of taking off the tracking system failed.” w/ photos
