We Sent Garlic Bread to the Edge of Space, Then Ate It


This is not going to be a normal video. We’re sending garlic bread
to the edge of space! Loads of people have launched
loads of objects on balloons, usually as publicity stunts. But despite a lot of
breathless press releases those objects haven’t
been launched into space. Most standards organisations agree
that space officially starts at the completely arbitrary
Kármán Line, 100 kilometres up. And balloons like that one
only get about a third of the way there. And we’re definitely not
sending anything into orbit. Orbit requires tens of thousands of
miles-an-hour of speed. That’s what all the rockets are for. – We’re using a weather balloon. It’s a large one, actually, today. We’re going as high as we can
with this payload. It’s very cold on the way up. It gets warmer as you approach
that sort of altitude. So it’s coldest just above the jet stream and then getting slightly warmer again. It gets back down to about zero
about where the balloon will pop. – The idea that all those publicity stunts
actually made it to space is helped by the fact that the fish-eye lens
on some of the cameras that they use means that the curve of the earth
looks a lot more dramatic than it really is at that height. Now we’re using cameras that
correct for that, so what you’ll see on screen
is more or less what you’d see up there. So we’re not saying “space”,
we’re saying “the edge of space”. Which is basically just a marketing term,
but the atmosphere’s so thin up there, about 1% of the pressure at ground level,
that it’s close enough. Why garlic bread? Because it’s delicious, and because someone already sent pizza
up in a balloon a few years ago. – This garlic bread is delicious. It’s homemade.
Well, apart from the baguette. I did some homemade garlic butter on there
with some real nice Parmesan on it. Although I did make it at
5 o’clock this morning! So it’s going to be in near-vacuum. It’s going to be possibly frozen. I mean… We’re going to send half up
in the sky with the balloon and then leave half on earth
for a real comparison taste test. – As it goes up, the atmosphere is getting
thinner and thinner and there’s less and less air pushing in. The balloon itself will
get bigger and bigger. So eventually the balloon will pop and the equipment will
parachute down to the ground and we’ll go and recover it. We normally predict the landing spot
to within about five miles when we launch the balloon. We’re tracking the balloon using some radio trackers. They send a signal with a
GPS position to the ground and that’s put on a map and we chase
the balloon’s predicted landing spot. I’ve done lots of
high-altitude ballooning. I’ve been doing it now for about 10 years. Never lost one. Sent one to
its doom a couple of times. – All sorts of food items have been
launched into the stratosphere. The BBC sent wedding cake up
as part of a children’s show but the punchline at the end was
that no one actually ate it. I’ve yet to find any balloon-launched food
that was actually eaten after landing. And the main reason for that is
you have no idea where it’s going to land,
what it’s going land in, or what animals will have got to it first. – The box I’ve designed has a GPS
and a little servo, and a piece of string and some springs. As it comes down it closes
the servo 1000 metres above the ground. – So now we have to get in our cars
and go chasing the payload. It’s just coming in to land somewhere
about half a mile ahead so, Barry, keep your eyes on the sky. I’ve got to keep my eyes on the road. You reckon we’re okay to park here? Let’s go. – It’s just on the end of that row there. – Let’s do it. – Oh dear!
– I think this is the way. Well, at least we’ve got
two cameras, I suppose. Yay, I think they’re still running. – Oh,there we go.
– Lift it up, oh. – Oh, yes!
– Yeah. – Alright so this is your original? – Yeah, yeah. – That’s really good. – Not bad, right? – Space bread… – Is it cold? – It’s not that much… oh! No, that tore completely differently. So that one ripped;
that one went [tearing sound]. This one went click. – It’s definitely got an icy middle. – Oh wow. – I don’t know. I mean…
– That has been frozen. That’s been frozen in the stratosphere. – You can sorta see the colour
of the middle of them. It’s whiter, isn’t it? – This went to the stratosphere
and I’m eating it! Sort of. Thank you very much to Steve Randall
from Random Aerospace and to Barry Lewis from My Virgin Kitchen. I don’t actually know what I did on this. I’m basically DJ Khaled at this point. – Yeah! Yeah. DJ Garl-ed? No, it didn’t work. I was gonna say garlic bread. – We’re done, we’re good.
– Yes. Sorry. Thank you, folks!

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Dennis Veasley

100 thoughts on “We Sent Garlic Bread to the Edge of Space, Then Ate It”

  1. This is about as close as I get to vlogging. Have a look at Barry's video to see his garlic bread and garlic butter recipes; and if you ever want to send anything to the edge of space, you should definitely hire Steve!

    Reply

  2. Imagine being a captain of a jet airliner having to deal with an engine failure / engine fire due to this contraption. Did anybody from your crew think of that ? Did you check with aerospace agency , air traffic before launching this ?

    Reply

  6. Breaking News: Plane flying from Oslo, Norway, To Toronto, Canada, safely lands in a field after a jam in the engine which seems to be garlic bread; 0 fatalities.

    Reply

  7. They should start a bakery and sell ridiculously expensive bread.

    "Serving out of this world bread near you"

    Reply

  9. Interesting that these high altitude balloons land so close from the launch site.
    How interesting is this belief that the earth is spinning at approx 1,000 mph.. And magically everything just stays so calm.
    God has confounded those who think they are wise to beleif such silliness.

    Reply

  12. Tom Scott, this is amazing. I feel some people on YT take themselves way to seriously and this is just amazing. Thanks for letting us join in on the fun!

    Reply

  48. I got an idea: how about launching raw pizza to space, then let the heat from atmospheric re-entry cook them on their way to the customers? It'll arrive fresh. They might lose their house, but hey… it's fresh pizza 🤔😂🤣

    Reply

  53. Nobody:
    These three: Eating garlic bread in some farmers field out of the weird box that crash landed there shortly beforehand

    Reply

  56. its technacily not in space it did not pass the Atmosphere and balloons would obviously pop at a certain height due to pressure

    Reply

  58. "Sir ,May I have your Order?"
    Me:"I will Take Your Finest Garlic Bread with With The Flovour of Space "
    "Yes,"

    "*Everyone Call NASA we Have an Order to fulfill*"

    Reply

  72. People: earth is flat

    Video: then explain this to me 😉

    Also video: am I a joke to you?

    Earth: am I a joke to you?

    Reply

  85. I would have warmed up the rest after initially trying it cold. That whole loaf would have been eaten. I love garlic bread.

    Reply

  87. I think I heard somewhere that the Karman line isn't completely arbitrary. It's the approximate point where, to stay that high, an airplane would need to move so fast that it would get more "lift" from the centrifugal force that keeps satellites in orbit than from actual aerodynamic lift.

    Reply

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