Video shows bolt launched into space by building firm

A bolt from an Edwinstowe construction company has been launched to the edge of space -- and you can watch it all on a YouTube video!
The Woodhead space launch.The Woodhead space launch.
The Woodhead space launch.

Robert Woodhead Ltd is working with the National Space Centre at Leicester to build its new ticketing facility, to be called the ‘Launch Pad’.

The bolt is being installed in the new building, which will free up much-needed room at the centre for the display of some exciting artefacts and also make it easier and quicker for customers to buy tickets at peak periods.

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Woodhead invited students from Beaumont Leys School in Leicester to take part in the space launch. And it was captured on camera as the bolt and a cuddly toy from the Space Centre’s gift shop headed off into the sky, via a balloon.

The aim was to send them on a journey to the edge of space, spanning some 103 miles, 115,452 feet!

After the launch, the journey of the balloon was tracked, and the items were collected from its final landing place at Long Sutton, a market town in Lincolnshire.

The footage of the journey was then put together to produce the fun video and show how a construction project can go to infinity and beyond!

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Tony Robinson, Woodhead’s project manager for the ‘Launch Pad’ programme, said: “We are all so excited to be working on this project with the National Space Centre.

“We are like kids ourselves being part of a such a different scheme, so to launch this bolt into space, working alongside the school pupils, was a privilege.”

Chas Bishop, the chief executive of the National Space Centre, said: “We are mighty close to the launch of this wonderful new facility, the ‘Launch Pad’, so what better way to celebrate than launching something ‘nuts’ to the edge of space?

“The students from Beaumont Leys School have helped out with some great hoarding designs and have taken a real interest in the construction process.

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“The Woodhead team has been only too willing to welcome them to the site and explain how it all works.

“I think we have some architects and site managers of the future right on our doorstep.”

The construction site at the centre has been given special accreditation by the Considerate Constructors Scheme, raising its profile.

To see the ‘bolt into space’ video, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_Qc9Ks1rM&feature=youtu.be