Attached to a weather balloon – one of Wrights famous pies took off into space, in association with the 2016 KMF Young Engineer of the Year Competition.
Wrights Food Group sponsored Madeley High School – who were one of 23 schools competing in ‘Send to Space’.
The first part of the competition entailed which school could take the best photograph up in the air using the equipment provided by KMF.
The 12 students decided to place a Wrights pie into a capsule they created from polystyrene – to then later send up to the sky with a little help from a single balloon.
To trace the pie’s journey, the school used a tracking devise which was added to the capsule as well as two GoPro cameras where they could capture a ‘selfie’ once the pie had reached its highest point.
Take off commenced at Severn Park, Bridgenorth on (May 12) – where the Wrights pie embarked on its mission, along with the other schools who were competing.
Andy Mayers, a design and technology teacher at Madley said: “It was truly amazing to send a Wrights pie into space.
“On behalf of the school we are very grateful to KMF for providing us with all the equipment, and also Wrights for sponsoring us.”
The pie took an hour to reach its highest point of around 22km, where the pupils were able to capture the ‘selfie’.
Mayers continued: “We’ve had a super time so far, the next part of the competition is to produce a three minute film about our story.
“Thanks to the tracker, we managed to find the pie and it’s still intact and now back in the freezer.”
The challenge was designed by KMF to generate new interest within the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) and equip young people with the skills required for the industry.
Wrights chairman and CEO Peter Wright said: “It’s really important to us that we inspire young engineers.
“When we found out about the competition we were more than happy to sponsor the school as it sounded like such a unique and exciting competition.
“On behalf of Wrights we’d like to congratulate the school for successfully managing to send one of our pies into space, and we wish them good luck in the rest of the competition.”
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