Pittsburgh Pirates Parrot Soars To New Heights
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Pittsburgh Pirates Parrot reached new heights, soaring from PNC Park to the outer edges of earth's atmosphere.
The team even has the video to prove it.
"Three, two, one!"
Teams from Carnegie Science Center and Stratostar count down to the launch of a weather balloon, prior to the Sunday game at PNC Park.
The balloon carries aloft a Pirates baseball, and a stuffed Pirate Parrot.
"This box right here contains four HD cameras," says Science Center program director Mike Hennessey. "This antenna was getting date from a satellite, sending backup coordinates."
He says even the parrot returned to earth, unscathed.
"You can see him spinning his way out of PNC Park, as folks are cheering along, and soaring up over Pittsburgh, and then heading all the way up until you can see the curvature of the earth and space beyond, which is incredible."
He says the balloon reached 96-thousand feet, surely a record for a parrot.
"The balloon was getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, it couldn't take the low pressure, and the balloon exploded. It burst."
With that, the parrot's plunge to earth began.
"Till the parachute deployed," Hennessy says. "And it was smooth sailing from there."
The GPS recovery team was led by AV specialist Doug DeHaven.
"Beeping we had from the command module was actually broadcasting data to us, so we'd know where it was located," he recalls. "And at one point, we were able to stop, and watch the balloon travel right over our heads."
The parachute wound up hovering over a wide field outside Cranberry, right near a very small grove of trees. Of course, you know where it landed. The tree-top landing made arborists, who volunteered their efforts, very happy. They climbed some forty feet, and rescued the space travelers.
So...what does all this mean to the Pirates?
"They're going to knock it out of this world," Mike Hennessy confidently responds.
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