The toys, named MAT and KMS, were decked out in custom-made space suits and launched on a weather balloon more than 18 miles above the Earth in the four-hour expedition.The toys, bought from Mothercare, endured temperatures of minus 31F (-35C) in the mission launched by Cambridge University's Space Flight science club.

A laptop attached to a webcam captured stunning images of the bears looking down on Earth from nearly 100,000ft. Pupils from nearby Parkside and Coleridge community colleges assisted scientists by creating space suits to stop the teddies from freezing solid.

After completing their mission the pair parachuted back to earth and made a soft landing near Ipswich just 50 miles from their launch pad. Henry Hallam, 21, an aerodynamics student at Pembroke College at Cambridge, led the successful experiment to monitor weather conditions above the Earth.

He said: "We asked the children to build the space suits for the teddy bears and we monitored the temperatures inside and outside the suits. It was still pretty cold for the bears but they would be frozen solid if they didn't have their suits.It was great to involve these young people in the Space Flight club, so they can learn about physics in a different and exciting way."

Thia Unsworth, 12, from Parkside College, helped to design the spacesuit for MAT. She said: "It was unbelievable to see the balloon take off and it's incredible to see the pictures of the teddy bears in space. I've always loved science before, but I now understand how it helps in the real world."

Yes indeed, teddy bears in space will be a great boon to humanity...

The USA spent a little more than £60...

The original was here