Embarking on a lofty journey beyond any plushie’s past adventures.
A tech firm from the UK has launched a stuffed toy into the Earth’s stratosphere, aiming to set a new world record in the process.
Emy, a light and fluffy companion weighing just 9 ounces, soared to an impressive height of 116,419 feet above Kingston, NY, on March 4, carried by a high-altitude balloon before making a gentle descent when the balloon burst.
This high-flying endeavor was masterminded by Raspberry, a UK-based app development company.
Remarkably, Emy survived the journey unscathed, ultimately coming to rest in a tree in Windsor, Connecticut, as confirmed by Raspberry’s CEO, Sachin Raoul.
Raoul shared with The Post that Emy’s flight has been submitted to the World Record Certification Agency, aiming to secure the title for the highest altitude a plush toy has achieved with the assistance of a high-altitude balloon. The company is eagerly anticipating the verdict.
The Instagram page documenting Emy’s adventures has amassed more than 1 million followers and has been seen by over 65 million people, according to Instagram.
Some observers speculated Emy may have been barbecued in her return trip, but she wasn’t incinerated during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere because of her low density and slow maximum speed, according to Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb.
“Meteors of this size burn up because they collide with Earth at a speed that is a thousand times larger, dissipating a million times more heat as the air slows them down. This energy release creates a fireball that burns them up [but] the stuffed animal can survive the journey,” Loeb said.
The stunt was orchestrated by Raspberry Circle, which originally developed Emy as an AI companion, but began dropping a real-world version of the “minipet” from increasingly higher elevations to inspire young people to spend more time outdoors. The company drops the doll one millimeter for each new Instagram follower amassed.
“After the birth of my daughter in August, I just really noticed how screens just put our brains in a comatose state and it really scared me,” Raoul said
The WRCA did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
