Source: MarioFinale on YouTube
Fans from Usada Pekora’s Pekora Overseas Discord pooled funds to send their favourite Vtuber to space.
What are you willing to do for your Oshi? For the members of Pekora Overseas Discord, they were willing to send the Japanese hololive-affiliated Vtuber Usada Pekora all the way to space... well, kind of.
Pekora’s space adventure was chronicled in a YouTube video posted by user MarioFinale, and it featured the many mishaps and incidents the team went through to get the Vtuber into the stratosphere, right in time to celebrate Pekora’s birthday on January 12.
The plan was inspired by a statement Pekora made in a stream last 29 March, 2023 about wanting to be sent to the moon (or at least, a doll version of her). This was a reference to an East Asian myth about a rabbit, which Pekora’s model is based on, living on the moon.
According to the video, it was impossible to send Pekora herself to space, so a doll of her likeness would have to do. Fans pooled enough money to purchase a mochidoll of Pekora, which was then sent to America, where the doll would be launched into space with the use of a high-altitude balloon in June of 2024.
The first attempt however, was put to a screeching halt due to the 2024 Canadian Wildfires, a devastating event that covered most of North America with smoke, including the designated launch site of Pekora’s space adventure.
As a backup plan, the team sent Pekora’s mochidoll to Arizona instead, but another challenge arose with the weather: it began to rain. The team did not allow this to hinder their plan and decided to attempt sending Pekora to space anyway. A rain-soaked Pekora managed to ascend towards the stratosphere, but before she could enter, the balloon popped and sent her spiraling downwards back to earth.
A second attempt was made an unspecified amount of weeks later, but the balloon stopped ascending at some point above the clouds, and would later come crashing down once again. The team decided to wait for a sunny day.
But the sunny day didn’t come for the next two months, as rains descended over America, causing the project to miss Pekora’s anniversary. The team didn’t give up though, and after some time, launched their third (and final) attempt at sending Pekora to space.
The final attempt was not marred by weather changes or smoke, and was a generally smooth event for those orchestrating the project. Pekora would gently ascend into the sky and beyond the clouds before entering the stratosphere, where she would stay for a set amount of time drinking in the wonders of space. It was a success, and Usada Pekora would return to land having seen the roundness of planet earth.
