Funded! This project successfully raised its funding goal on May 1, 2012.
Some big things are in the works for the follow-up to this project. If you didn't get a chance to back us, go to www.SendPicardToSpace.com and join our list to get exclusive pre-launch access to what we're doing next. Something big is in the works and if you sign-up you'll be the first to know!
Memory cards courtesy of SanDisk
Ordering 25 Subway sandwiches to feed the crew
Breaking out the helium tanks
Discovery Channel doing interviews
Balloon filling begins!
Picard (and Riker and Data) getting ready to fly!
Kirk (and J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci) getting ready to fly!
Hard at work
Last minute adjustments
Star Trek communicator buttons all taped in for the flight
Flight Director
Attaching the balloon
Almost ready!
Final countdown
Max Schlickenmeyer filming for the final video
Release!
Up, up and away
The pursuit - we had a 9 car tracking convoy, including a dedicated tracking vehicle
Inside the tracking vehicle - we had an entire car just filled with trackers on their laptops
The Jeep in safari mode
We're close! We know it's landed within 300 yards of here.
"I see it! I see it!"
We found it!
Picard's precision landing. He sure knows how to land a starship!
The picture-perfect landing from another angle
Kirk's landing
Smile for national television!
The launch crew
The launch crew (cont.)
Mission success!
SPOT tracking
Flight profile
Hard at work on radio interviews
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain James Tiberius Kirk have been mythically soaring throughout the galaxy for as long as the last 45 years and finally, thanks to all of you, they have gotten their first taste of the real thing and have officially made it to the final frontier!
For the last few weeks, we were working non-stop to make this space mission a reality. Countless people pulled all-nighters, myself included, and I'm happy to report: mission successful.
Last Saturday, from Moraine View State Park in Central Illinois, almost two dozen of us launched a giant latex Kaymont balloon into the stratosphere carrying action figures of Picard, Riker and Data aboard a model of the USS Enterprise-D, and Kirk, J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701—the custom-made action figures of Abrams and Orci were hand-sculpted by Be A Doll. Also aboard were 6 HD video cameras, a 3D camera, an assortment of tracking systems (including a HAM tracker and SPOT Personal Locator Beacon), and 33 Star Trek communicator buttons. It was all connected to an 8 foot long superstructure that was made mostly of aluminum and weighed almost 12 lbs. fully loaded. This was easily one of the most elaborate amateur, high-altitude balloon missions ever.
During the two hour flight, the Star Trek captains spent nearly 90 minutes in the stratosphere where temperatures (-76 F) and air pressures (1% sea level) are akin to those on Mars. At the flight's peak, it was above 99% of the Earth's atmosphere and the Starfleet captains were the second highest "people" in the world, behind only the astronauts on the International Space Station.
The balloon popped at an altitude of around 100,000 feet after expanding to nearly 40 feet in diameter and Picard, Kirk, crew and starships parachuted safely back to the Earth, touching down at around a gentle 15MPH. The entire payload was completely recovered fully intact undamaged from its landing site in a desolate corn field near the town of Glen Avon, IL. The best part? The Enterprise-D landed perfectly flat, as though Picard coordinated the landing himself. And fittingly representing Kirk's more aggressive go-out-guns-blazing persona, the NCC-1701 came in nose first. I can only imagine something he might of said before landing: "OK, everyone, hold on tight. We're going in hot!"
We got extremely lucky with weather. It was supposed to rain and be overcast, but instead it was clear skies and sunshine. Blisteringly hot, but with clear skies it was hard to complain. We also got very lucky with a calm jet stream. Normally, the lateral drift for high-altitude balloons requires driving over 100 miles for recovery. Not so on this day; we only drove 25.
Picard and Kirk still have about 20,000 more lightyears to go, but this is a start. It wouldn't surprise me if a few hundred years from now, there are actually captains named Picard and Kirk sailing throughout the galaxy on *real* starships. Because, afterall, reality is what we make it. Had it not been for Gene Roddenberry's creation of Star Trek and him naming the series' flag starship "Enterprise," it's doubtful NASA would have called one of their Space Shuttles "Enterprise." Imagination is at the foundation of all future reality. Considering that, it's not so crazy to think that the world we see in Star Trek may some day soon become a reality.
In the famous words of Captain Picard, "Make it so."
Remember that television channel I told you in an earlier update that was sending a film crew out to the launch? Well, a film crew from Discovery Channel Canada was out with us the entire day from 8:30am to 6:30pm. They captured a ton of great footage and I'm told a short episode featuring Picard and Kirk's flight is going to air on national television sometime late next week. Look for it!
If you live in Canada, keep an eye out for the episode featuring this launch on Discovery Channel's TV show "Daily Planet." And if you don't live in Canada, we'll post an update with a link to the episode as soon as it airs.
What's an official launch without official t-shirts? Take a look at who's mentioned first on the back of all the shirts, which were in front of the Discovery Channel cameras all day long! ;) Ah hem: "Our Kickstarter Backers!"
Captain Picard and Captain Kirk are the greatest starship captains to ever exist, but they never before made it to space in reality, and that's why you pitched in to help send them there. Every step we make closer to the vision depicted in Star Trek, in a sense, we bring that fictional world into reality. This may have been an incredibly small and insignificant step towards that, but it's a thrust in that direction nonetheless.
And all of this is thanks to you Kickstarter backers! You guys and gals totally rock!
We also had some others who helped make this possible and we want to thank those supporters for their amazing help!
● THANK YOU SanDisk! They provided us with a full supply of the Extreme HD Video 32GB memory cards we needed to record the entire flight.
● THANK YOU Be A Doll! They hand sculpted the custom-made action figures of J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci (the director and co-writer of 2009 Star Trek and the upcoming sequel) that flew with Kirk.
● THANK YOU Melissa Ventura! She designed our fantastic logo.
● THANK YOU Max Schlickenmeyer! He's our DP who was shooting video on launch day and will be putting together the final video for all of you.
● THANK YOU Tellman Knudson! He helped out in a big way with some much needed logistical support.
Finally, I really want to thank Spencer Gore and his team at Space for All for providing all of the engineering genius behind this mission!
And to express just how much I appreciate you Kickstarters, I shot this short video out on launch day just minutes before we sent Picard and Kirk into space:
● Max Schlickenmeyer is hard at work editing the final video that will eternally capture Picard and Kirk's historic flight. With more than 250GB worth of video from over half a dozen cameras to sort through, it could take a couple of weeks but you can bet it's going to be spectacular once he's done. As soon as it's ready to go, I'll post a link. Max is responsible for the three-million-hit YouTube video called "The Most Astounding Fact" with voiceover by Neil deGrasse Tyson. If you haven't seen it yet, you should watch it right now. I heard that Neil is even referencing this video in his speeches now. I highly recommend it.
● Soon I'll be taking a trip to LA to hand deliver the action figures that flew to the edge of space to their real-life counterparts. I'll meet with Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Brent Spiner (Data), J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci to hand over their freshly space-inducted action figures.
● Get our final video aired at Comic-Con and Star Trek Las Vegas.
Below is only the coverage we know about so far. There was more, but we don't have copies of it. We know this space mission was mentioned on CNN Headline News, as well as extensively covered on Chicago radio stations.
Space - "For the first time ever, TV's beloved "Star Trek" captains James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard will go boldy into near-space for real —in action figure form."
io9 - "We love videos of people sending various objects into space via high-altitude balloons, and this one is especially fun."
MSNBC - "Star Trek dolls will boldly go on near-space mission"
TrekMovie - "Meet Logan Kugler, a space enthusiast/trekkie with one simple goal: to send Captains Picard and Kirk into near-space — well, their action figures at least!"
Bleeding Cool - "…Strapped to models of their respective Starship Enterprises [Picard and Kirk will be launched] into space using a high-altitude balloon and is being filmed by the Discovery Channel to boot."
LiveScience - "A group of Trekkies has banded together to launch dolls of the two starship captains, as well as other key Trek characters and models of Star Trek spacecraft, to the edge of space using a high-altitude balloon."
The Mary Sue - "Captain Kirk and Captain Picard have shared screen-time before in the beloved Star Trek franchise but now they’ll travel to space together in real life."
Action Figure Insider - "A team of more than a dozen individuals, backed by over 100 donors on Kickstarter, will launch models of the iconic science fiction characters standing atop their respective starships into near space…"
The Beat - "…The Star Trek nerd in me could NOT help myself [from posting about this]."
SpaceRef - "Two starship captains, 6 action figures, 2 starships, [6] cameras, and a launch crew of more than a dozen will send Captain Picard and Captain Kirk to the edge-of-space and return them safely to the Earth."
Fanboy - "This very cool project on Kickstarter [offers]… your chance to send Captain Picard AND Captain Kirk into outer space."
WBBM Chicago Newsradio (radio) - John Cody reports
A-MAZ-ING!
You, our Kickstarter backers, are truly incredible! Our goal of $2,750 was not only met, but we absolutely demolished it, ending with over $6,000 in pledges. Can't thank you enough for all of the support you guys provided on this extremely fun project to send Captain Picard and Kirk (and company) into space!
And ready for the good part? It's happening very, very soon! I didn't post an update yesterday because I was on a cross-country flight to prepare for the launch. Lots of things are happening over here and the wheels are churning. This is going to be no ordinary high-altitude balloon launch. We're pulling out all of the stops!
We've been on the phone non-stop the last several days and this is shaping up to go down as *the* coolest and most elaborate amateur high-altitude balloon space mission in history! Can't wait to tell you more.
Stand by amazing Kickstarter backers. More updates soon!
P.S. While Chris Pine is on our logo, we're still flying the Shat man (William Shatner) you all know and love!
Folks, we now have a logo for this project now thanks to the wonderful designer, Melissa Ventura (melissaventura.com)!
Funding period
Apr 6, 2012 -
May 1, 2012
(25 days)
107 backers
Copy of the final production video of Captain Picard's historic flight into near-space
8 backers All gone!
Special behind-the-scenes footage of Captain Picard's historic flight into near-space
25 backers All gone!
*JUST ADDED* We're going to fly a few Star Trek communicator buttons in the capsule. You'll get one of these special Star Trek buttons that have been to near space on a mission with Picard and Kirk! INCLUDES shipping. (In the backer updates, we'll post a photo of the 25 buttons that fly while they're sitting in the capsule as proof that they went on the trip.)
9 backers Limited (11 of 20 left)
"Producer" credit in the video which will be uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo and spread across the web
6 backers All gone!
"Executive Producer" credit in the video which will be uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo and spread across the web
2 backers All gone!
An invite to the actual launch that will take place in central Illinois
1 backer All gone!
We're sending both the USS Enterprise D with Captain Picard on the bridge AND the original USS Enterprise with Captain Kirk on the bridge into space at the same time -- this is a dual mission! If you contribute $500, you will get the actual Captain Kirk doll that goes up into space! Imagine the bragging rights of owning a Captain Kirk doll that has been to the edge of space!
1 backer All gone!
Get the actual USS Enterprise NCC-1701 model that is featured in this launch and video and goes up into space with Captain Kirk. This is a model of the brand new and updated NCC-1701 featured in the 2009 Star Trek movie.
