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PARIS soars to Guinness World Record

Highest paper plane launch ever – official

Fans of our Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) mission will doubtless want to join us in raising a glass today to our Vulture 1 aircraft – now officially the holder of the record for the highest launch of a paper plane in the history of aviation.

Our PARIS Guinness World Records certificateYes indeed, PARIS has been awarded a Guinness World Record, and we have a lovely certificate to prove it.

We actually applied for the record some time ago, then completely forgot about it. Last week, we got an email from Guinness World Records asking for clarification on a couple of technical points of our audacious mission, and it was only then that we realised we'd made it into the history books.

As soon as the official bit of paper arrived, PARIS launch team members José María Pita and Ernesto García García (codename "Tito") rolled up to quaff a couple of well-deserved celebratory beers:

Jose Maria and Tito with the Paris Guinness World Record certificate

It's only right and proper that we salute other vital PARIS personnel who couldn't join us, and here we have radio man Steve Daniels (left) and John Oates (far right), seen before the historic launch with yours truly and Tito:

Steve, Lester and John with Tito and the Vulture 1

Naturally, you'll be wondering just how our Vulture 1 pilot - the fearless Playmonaut - received the news. Pretty well, evidently, since he sent us this snap of his own celebration, apparently taken at a Swedish lesbian enclave:

Our Playmonaut celebrates with a brace of blondes

Well done that man. For the record, the Guinness World Records query regarding the "couple of technical points" was prompted by rival paper plane teams who'd been in touch asking just what they'd have to do to challenge the record.

We have no further information on who these upstarts might be, but we say come and have a pop, if you think you've got the Right Stuff:

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More about the lovely PARIS

  • Our dedicated PARIS section is right here.
  • If you don't understand what PARIS was about, try this mission summary.
  • Our Flickr page contains all our PARIS snaps, as well as images from our ongoing Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) mission.
  • All of the Special Projects Bureau videos live down at our lovely YouTube channel.

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