In the middle of England, in the county of Buckinghamshire, there’s the village of Whitchurch and a pub named The White Swan. But unlike the many beautiful country pubs throughout the UK, this one has its own space program.

One small step for man, one giant stride for London Pride

On the 5th of July of this year, pub owners Pete and Rosalind Bangs collaborated with one of their locals – who happened to be a British rocket scientist – to launch a pint of their ‘usual’ into space. Using High Altitude Balloon or HAB and a pint of Fullers London Pride ale, European Astrotech engineer Chris Smith set up a launch station in the pub garden with the help of village locals. Including a Go Pro, HD video recorder, three tracking devices and a Lego spaceman holding a sign reading “One small step for man, one giant stride for London Pride”, locals could sip their own pints while watching the events unfold in real-time on a flat screen TV.

While the flight and return were a success, a freak magnetic event erased any evidence on the camera’s memory cards. Although that didn’t stop the pint (now frozen) to be returned to the pub and imbibed by an honest local who simply exclaimed “It tasted a bit muddy”.

When asked to the pub owners of the event they answered;

“We’re tired of seeing every village pub go ‘gastro’, so we decided to go ‘astro’! Seeing as London Pride is our top seller, what could be better than celebrating our locals’ favourite tipple by sending it stratospheric.”

But in the good British spirit of adventure, a stiff upper lip and another pint of the good stuff, last week The White Swan team sent a second balloon and a second pint (Lego and all) into space. And this time got the pictures to prove it. The 200g balloon complete with its payload, reached a recorded height of 23.4 km before returning safely to earth. Once again the pint, which had simultaneously boiled and frozen in the chilled vacuum of space, was sampled in all of its pioneering endeavor only to be described by another local as having “tasted pretty grim”. There’s just no pleasing some people…

[Visit: whiteswanwhitchurch.co.uk]

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