"...one giant leap for bearkind"

More proof, if proof be needed, that teddy bears are superior to humans. The BBC reports that four bears have become the first Teddynauts following their historic 2-hour sub-orbital flight aboard a helium weather balloon.

The bears took off from Cambridge University's Spaceflight centre and travelled 30km to the edge of space as part of the Nova 9 mission. There are some great pictures on the mission web site, the curvature of the Earth clearly visible behind them. Bears are natureally curious about space and one of the crew seems to have removed his helmet to get a better view of things. To get home, the bears had to wait for a lack of atmospheric pressure to burst the balloon before they could parachute safely back to Earth, landing near Ipswich.

Putting teddies in space might sound frivolous, but it's all in aid of serious science. The plan is to use a similar technique to enable a satellite to be put into orbit for about £1000. Using a rocket, getting into space from the ground is an expensive and dangerous undertaking, but launching a payload from from a balloon already touching the void is far easier.