UK primary students launch Sam the Dog into space

Sam the Dog has boldly gone where no cuddly toy has gone before.

Children at Morecambe Bay Community Primary School in Lancashire, England, launched a plush toy dog into the stratosphere on April 5 as part of an educational project. The school received helped from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues and SentIntoSpace.com, and launched a helium-filled balloon from the Midland Hotel with the toy, named Sam the Dog, as its sole passenger.

Sam the Dog was fitted with different measuring tools and a GPS to track his journey. Sam rose at a rate of 6 meters per second (about 20 feet per second), and floated to an altitude of 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) above the earth.

But Sam never made it back to school.

According to Independent, the balloon expectedly popped and fell back to Earth, where the GPS tracker and camera were discovered in a field more than 30 miles away from the launchpad. But Sam wasn't there.

The school has since launched a search party to recover Sam, and the hotel group has promised a complimentary stay at the Midland Hotel to the person who finds him. Using the hashtag #FindSam, twitter users in the UK can help with the search.