The Mission: To send a space-craft 20km above the earth using a high-altitude weather balloon

In 2019 Upstart was selected for the CAS:AIR project residency. The project's aim was to connect Andover with ‘the bigger picture’ and give the whole of Andover an opportunity to experience a universe of hope and possibility. We worked with Andover Young Carers and the Picket Twenty Fillies (W.I.) to name, design and build a spacecraft, drawing on the advice of the team at Winchester Science Centre. Our participants and the people of Andover filled the spacecraft with words and images representing who we are now, and our hopes for the future.

Alas on the day we were meant to launch our spacecraft in December, severe weather hit the UK and to avoid the risk of unintentionally invading Belgium we took the decision to postpone the launch to February 2020. February came and with it, uncertainty about coronavirus and subsequently lockdown.

It has been a loooooonnnnngggg wait but launch day is upon us once again, when we will see our spacecraft, carried by a weather balloon, ascend into the stratosphere and release its messages of hope, love and connection across Southern England and beyond.