Middle School Rocket Launch: Hello Kitty Gets A Free Ride Into Space

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A seventh grade experiment at Cornerstone Christian School in Antioch, CA led a young woman to embark on an ambitious science project. Lauren Rojas wanted to create a homemade rocket and see if she could launch it into space. However, she also wanted her homemade rocket to be special and to feature a little bit of her own loves and passions. Thus, she decided to strap up her favorite Hello Kitty doll and send it into space, as well.

On a windy day, Rojas had a little help as she strapped up the Hello Kitty doll and launched the rocket into space, using a good old weather balloon. To make the experience a little cooler, she even attached a GoPro camera to capture the rocket’s experience rising in the air and then plummeting back from space. The experiment took several weeks to accomplish with plenty of hard work. The final results: the rocket eventually rose 93,625 feet above planet Earth, before coming down and almost crashing back into the planet. Instead, the rocket was found 47.5 miles from home stuck 50 feet up in a tree.

The girl's innovation aside, this screams of a project that was achieved with a little parental help. According to the New York Daily News, Rojas did get help from her father, Rodney, who believes the project will be an experience to remember. That’s definitely true, now that the video has gone viral and attracted nearly 200,000 views on YouTube.

Jessica Rawden
Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.