SA library launches soft toy echidna into space

Tea Tree Gully library in South Australia has launched a soft toy echidna into space to encourage local children’s interest in the history of space exploration, reports the ABC.

After more than two years of planning, and with funding from the district’s historical society, in December last year Anstey the echidna was attached to a balloon that rose to an altitude of 37,000 metres. The toy was tracked by amateur radio operators from its launch at a sports field at Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills to its landing in the Murray Mallee several days later, approximately 120km away.

Tea Tree Gully Library community events and history coordinator David Brooks said they ‘had this idea of being the first library to send its toy into space’. ‘It is a fantastic way of teaching both STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—and history,’ said Brooks. ‘[But] it is hard as a local government to convince ratepayers that space missions are a good spend of their money.’

Category: Library news