It's the ultimate gift for a Star Wars fan--a Storm Trooper bobblehead from the edge of space. On July 23rd, this minion of the Emperor hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon. At the apex of the flight, he was 117,454 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California.
 
After the balloon exploded (as planned), something extraordinary happened. The Storm Trooper parachuted back to Earth and landed less than 2 feet from the famous John Muir Trail. What are the odds? A pack train passed by 10 minutes later. The Storm Trooper then hitched another ride--5 days on the back of a mule bumping along the Sierra crest. The packers delivered the payload, with cosmic rays sensors and bobbleheads, to a group of waiting students in Red's Meadow near Mammoth Lakes, California. What a ride!
 
The students are selling these bobbleheads to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the Trooper in flight and telling the story of his journey to the edge of space and back again.