First Rickroll in Space

By Nancy Atkinson - October 18, 2010 at 5:13 AM UTC | Space Exploration

Those pranksters from

Zug

have now gone to the edge of space, sending their own DIY satellite up to 89,000 feet above Earth, and doing a little

Rickrolling

along the way. They claim they have now pulled the famous prank on the entire planet. Hmmm, hopefully this wasn't the

source of the radio signals

that caused ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe to be "blinded from interference." Surely strains of "Never Gonna Give You Up" could never do that....

The video above is a quick look at their balloon satellite launch and their results;

here's the whole story on Zug.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com