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Alfie Hewett delivers stratospheric serve with Lexus tennis balls from space

  • Writer: Sent Into Space
    Sent Into Space
  • 3 days ago
  • 2 min read

Have you ever pictured a tube of tennis balls floating through space? Us neither actually … that is until a certain automotive company approached us with a rather unique and exciting idea for a launch. The car manufacturer in question was Lexus, a brand that needs little introduction, especially amongst tennis fans looking forward to this year’s Lexus Opens.


A collection of Lexus-branded tennis balls with ATP Tour, LTA and Lexus image overlays

The mission

To celebrate the beginning of these hotly-anticipated tournaments, Lexus asked us to get involved in a very special promotional campaign. The mission was simple(ish): launch a tube of Lexus-branded balls into space, recover it after landfall and deliver it to tennis legend Alfie Hewett for an otherworldly opening serve.


Tennis player Alfie Hewett holding a Lexus-branded tube of tennis balls

Designing a tennis ball capsule for the stratosphere

As soon as the mission was finalised, our engineers got their heads down designing and manufacturing a suitably futuristic-looking tennis ball tube – complete with Lexus branding, of course. This was then mounted to a bespoke launch platform hosting an array of space-capable cameras ready to capture the tennis balls’ upcoming journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere.


A Lexus spacecraft holding a tube of tennis balls

Lexus space launch

Lexus launch day arrived and the Tech Team busied themselves completing a bevy of pre-flight checks and filling the space-capable balloon with hydrogen. Once the craft had been released into the air to begin its 110,000 feet ascent, the Recovery Team fired up their tracking equipment and raced towards the predicted landing site.


A Lexus-branded tube of tennis balls against the Earth floating in space.

You’ve been served

With the precious cargo in hand, the team travelled straight to London’s National Tennis Centre to deliver it to a waiting Alfie Hewett. With the cameras rolling, the tennis legend delivered a blistering serve with one of the space-flown balls to round out the campaign in style. Game, set and match Lexus!


Be sure to check out Lexus’ incredible campaign video below to see what all the fuss is about:

Get in touch today if you fancy taking your next campaign to brand new levels…

 
 
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