Blue Origin launch from 15th April sends dinosaur bones into space

On 15th April, Blue Origin launch sent dinosaur bones into space. The event is part of the Dream Big Alabama initiative for the company’s foundation, Club for the Future, and Huntsville Science Festival. The fossils had company – Mannequin Skywalker dummy and over 25,000 postcards from the club.

Which Bones did Blue Origin Launch?

The bones came from a dromaeosaurid in the raptor family. The species was a bird-like carnivore about two metres high. It also had claws to engage its victims. All fossils were between 65 and 70 million years old. A total of 200 bone fragments fit inside a small 10cm vial before the Blue Origin launch sent dinosaur bones into space. The rocket flew 105km, 5km above the Karman line, where space begins. The fossils spent slightly over 10 minutes in space. According to Joe Lacuzzo, founder of the Huntsville Science Festival, sending dinosaur bones into space was a ‘poke-in-the-eye’ joke to an asteroid that caused dinosaur extinction.

Not the First Dinosaur Bones In Space

The latest Blue Origin launch is not the first in the history of sending fossils to space, though. Two of NASA’s space shuttle missions also carried fossils on board, as per astronauts’ requests. The first one took place in 1985 and carried a piece of the vertebra and an eggshell. The second one, in 1998, took a Coelophysis skull to space. That fossil was over 200 million years old. So, Blue Origin launch idea to send dinosaur bones into space goes way back.