Rebecca and Kimberly Yeung have had their share of out-of-this-world experiences thanks to their interest in science and their success in sending two balloon-borne crafts into the Earth’s stratosphere. Now the Seattle sisters are the subject of a short documentary put together by the folks at Great Big Story.
The new video, which runs just short of 7 minutes in length, shows Rebecca, 11, and Kimberly, 9, recalling how they became interested in launching their first balloon — the Loki Lego Launcher — and what they hoped to achieve when they launched their second — the Loki Lego Launcher 2.0.
The first craft soared to 78,000 feet in September 2015 and launched the young students into a mini stardom of sorts. GeekWire even gets credit in the new video for being the first to tell the girls’ story. International attention followed and before long, Rebecca and Kimberly were GeekWire Geek of the Year finalists and they were meeting President Obama at a White House science fair.
Last summer, they sent up their second craft in search of the answers to more scientific questions and that balloon reached 101,000 feet. The Great Big Story video shows the girls prepping for and succeeding in that launch.
“I hope that more kids, especially girls, follow paths and do projects like ours in STEM,” Rebecca said. “And I hope our projects teach them that they can do whatever they want if they put their heart into it.”
“They don’t have to stick with whatever is girly, or boyish,” Kimberly added. “Girls are awesome and girls can do anything.”
