The England and Wales Cricket Board has blasted a cricket ball into space for probably a very good reason.
Ahead of the NatWest T20 Blast competition (geddit?) the ball was launched above the clouds to the edge of space from Edgbaston Stadium on a giant balloon.
The ball reached a height of 110,000 feet and "endured" temperatures of -54C before falling back to Earth at around 500mph before landing "safely" (sigh) thanks to a parachute.
David Collier, chief executive of the ECB, said in a statement:
"Ahead of the launch of the NatWest T20 Blast season, we wanted to do something that would reflect the competition’s exciting brand of cricket and vibrant in-ground atmosphere."
Here are some other things sent into space, also for probably very fine and non-trivial reasons.