As part of a literacy drive, primary school children sent a book into the stratosphere last month. The book, Blood and Fire, the third in the Keeper of the Realms series by Marcus Alexander, rose elegantly into the sky, floating gently over East Sussex, and possibly Rye, and into Kent, reaching an altitude of 35,000m before plunging into the English Channel.
The GPS system on board the spacecraft enabled the children to locate it several miles out at sea from Dover and the book and the video footage were safely retrieved. A seven minute video explaining more about the project is available here and a shorter version covering the moment when the spacecraft burst here.
The children from Baird Primary Academy in Hastings worked to construct the spacecraft as part of a school project that covered many subject areas, including maths, physics, geography and engineering. Their names were included in the craft which was authorised to make its ascent by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Alexander is the Patron of Reading at the Baird Academy, where he has been working with the children to produce their own micro books and improve their reading over the year. He said “I’m super thrilled to announce the students have increased their reading levels by a massive 24% (KaPOW!) This is a crazy statistic and I’m happy to say it’s freaking teachers out everywhere :D”
For more information about Alexander’s work with Baird, visit his website Or check out his books here.
Photos courtesy Marcus Alexander