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    Teen Sends Her MIT Admissions Letter to Space [VIDEO]

    By Alissa Skelton | Mashable – Tue, Feb 7, 2012

    A 16-year-old accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched her admissions letter 91,000 feet to space and videotaped its journey.

    [More from Mashable: Google to Test Mystery Device in Employees’ Homes [VIDEO]]

    Erin King of Georgia used a weather balloon, GPS-equipped ham radio transmitters, a GoPro Hero camera and a helium tank to turn her letter into a fun science project.

    She launched the balloon on Jan. 16 in Lumpkin, Ga., and two hours later it landed more than 75 miles away near Cordele, Ga. After the balloon released, King and her father jumped in the car while they tracked the letter to its landing place, which was in low trees near a cotton field. The letter was secured inside the tube and King was able to keep it after all.

    [More from Mashable: OK Go Plays 1,000 Instruments With a Car in Stunning New Video]

    SEE ALSO: Father and Son Launch iPhone Into Space [VIDEO]

    MIT sends acceptance letters to students in a cardboard tubes. Then students are asked to do something creative with the tube and post the final product on MIT's Hack the Tubes blog.

    "2012 is the anniversary of an old MIT balloon hack, so we put a letter in all of the Early Action admit tubes telling them we wanted them to hack the tubes somehow," said Chris Peterson, head of web communications for MIT Admissions, on BoingBoing.

    Several other students submitted entries, but King's was the best, Peterson told BoingBoing. She uploaded a video of the tube reaching the edge of space. King has done several balloon watches during high school, but this is the first MIT has seen. Now she plans to join the MIT class of 2016.

    What other fun ways can universities send admissions letters? Let us know your ideas in the comments.

    Photo Courtesy of Erin King

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

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