Lock S-foils in attack position! Two Star Wars fans have managed to launch a model X-Wing into the stratosphere, giving fans the rather exciting spectacle of seeing the starfighter fly through actual real-life space.

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Essex duo Matt Kingsnorth and Phil St. Pier, amateur astronomers who specialise in using weather balloons to take high-altitude pictures, attached the model to a weather balloon that ascended to around 36,190m (118,000ft) before bursting and plummeting back to Earth.

The project took around six months to complete and cost the pair £1200. However, it's time and money that could be rewarded, if the pair get their way. For attached in the triumphant video below is a question for The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams: "Can we have 2 tickets the premiere...?"

"Ordinarily the answer would be no," they add, "so we thought we'd try something extraordinary. We know you like practical effects and shooting in real locations. And we really love that there are X-Wings in the new film so..."

Have a look for yourself to see why they totally deserve it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEerIGTm2nE

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in cinemas on December 16th

Authors

Stephen Kelly

Stephen Kelly is a freelance culture and science journalist. He oversees BBC Science Focus's Popcorn Science feature, where every month we get an expert to weigh in on the plausibility of a newly released TV show or film. Beyond BBC Science Focus, he has written for such publications as The Guardian, The Telegraph, The I, BBC Culture, Wired, Total Film, Radio Times and Entertainment Weekly. He is a big fan of Studio Ghibli movies, the apparent football team Tottenham Hotspur and writing short biographies in the third person.

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