London Pride, the official beer sponsor of the Virgin Money London Marathon, has launched a pint of London Pride into space, with the help of the team from European Astrotech Ltd, from the The White Swan pub in Whitchurch for Astronaut Tim Peake.
On Sunday 24 April 2016, Astronaut Tim Peake is planning to run the equivalent distance of the Virgin Money London Marathon on board the International Space Station. When he completes the challenge, just like every other participant in the race, he will be treated to two pints of London Pride on Fuller’s – one for the participant, the other for their friend/family to celebrate their success. However, as Peake will not be able to redeem his vouchers in a pub close to the finish line like all the other participants, Fuller’s attempted to send his pint up to him on the International Space Station.
Using a high altitude balloon, the team from European Astrotech launched the pint of London Pride from The White Swan in Whitchurch. It reached 29.98 km (98,359.58 ft) before the balloon burst and safely returned back to earth. Despite the pint not quite reaching the orbiting height of the International Space Station, it did reach nearly twice the height of what was Concorde’s typical cruising altitude, or in other words, it reached the equivalent height of 98 Shards placed on top of each other.