A former NASA engineer took the classic egg drop challenge to the next level by sending an egg to space and somehow, it didn’t break.
Mark Rober, a popular YouTuber and founder of CrunchLabs, has nearly 57 million followers who love his science experiments. One of his most impressive moments came in November 2022 with a video titled “Egg Drop From Space.”
Rober had already thought about dropping an egg off the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but decided to aim even higher—sending one to space. His plan was simple: put an egg inside a rocket, lift it up into space with a weather balloon, and then bring it back down to Earth, landing on a soft pad to keep it safe.
One big problem he had to solve was keeping the egg warm on the way up so it wouldn’t freeze and crack. After launching the experiment, things didn’t go smoothly. The weather balloon ran into trouble as it climbed towards space. Twisting cords wrapped around the string that was supposed to bring the balloon down, and the balloon collapsed. The whole setup started falling back to Earth at 150 mph, putting the egg in serious danger.
Everything depended on the rocket carrying the egg breaking free and landing safely on its own. Luckily, that’s exactly what happened. The rocket separated from the falling balloon and landed back on solid ground. Rober opened it up and found the egg, completely unbroken. “We’re safe on Earth,” he said with a smile. “Two for two, baby.”
In the video’s description, he teased his next challenge: “Next year we’re doing this on Mars.” Although no third egg drop video has appeared yet in 2024, fans are eagerly waiting.
Featured Image Credit: Mark Rober/YouTube
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