It's a far-out gift for the cat-lover in your life: The Star Cat. This sterling silver pendant touched space on July 14, 2023, when it hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon. At the apex of the flight it floated 116,710 feet above the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.
 
During the 2.35  hour flight, the pendant experienced temperatures as low as -57 C and air pressure less than 0.1% of sea level. Cosmic ray levels soared to 100x Earth-normal! After onboard sensors gathered enough radiation data, the payload parachuted back to Earth, landing on Coyote Flats, a 11,000 ft plateau overlooking Bishop, California.
 
The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling space pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.