'Star Wars' Fans Send an X-Wing Into Space in Hopes of Impressing J.J. Abrams

By Abid Rahman

Tickets to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens world premiere are going to be the hottest tickets on the planet, but two enterprising amateur astronomers think they may get director J.J. Abrams to slip them after sending a X-wing into space.

The Radio Times reports that Brits Matt Kingsnorth and Phil St. Pier tied a model X-wing fighter onto a weather balloon and then sent it 118,000 ft up into the atmosphere making sure to capture the whole thing, and the epic ride of the X-wing on camera.

Related: What Happens When ‘Star Wars’ Is Just a War Film?

The project took Kingsnorth and St. Pier six months and they reportedly spent just $1,850 on sending the balloon up to space.

As well as kudos from Star Wars fans around the globe, Kingsnorth and St. Pier also hoped that Abrams would listen to their plea for Force Awakens premiere tickets. They added the following note directed at Abrams in the video, and it might just work…

“Can we have 2 tickets the premiere…? Ordinarily the answer would be no, so we thought we’d try something extraordinary. We know you like practical effects and shooting in real locations. And we really love that there are X-wings in the new film so…”

Watch the video: