Who is The Battersby? UK TikToker sends late dog Oscar’s ashes to ‘edge of space’ in emotional tribute

A UK TikTok creator has captured the attention of millions after finding an extraordinary way to keep a promise he made to his late French Bulldog, Oscar — by sending part of the dog’s ashes towards the edge of space.

The creator, known online as The Battersby, built a high-altitude balloon carrying Oscar’s ashes, a 360-degree camera, a GPS tracker and the French Bulldog’s much-loved Toy Story alien toy.

Shared on TikTok on May 7, 2026, the emotional footage has drawn more than one million views, with pet owners particularly moved by the reason behind the unusual flight.


Long before Oscar died, his owner had promised that he would one day “show him the world.” With that opportunity gone, The Battersby found another way to make good on his word.

Who is The Battersby and why is his Oscar video going viral?

The Battersby is a UK-based TikTok creator whose videos have included appearances from Oscar, his French Bulldog and longtime companion.

After Oscar’s death, he was left with a promise that carried new meaning. He had told his dog that he would show him the world, and rather than allowing those words to remain simply a cherished memory, he turned them into the inspiration for Oscar’s final adventure.

The result was an ambitious homemade balloon mission designed to carry part of Oscar’s ashes high enough to capture sweeping views of the Earth.

At the end of the video, The Battersby delivers the line at the heart of the project: “Oscar, I’ve now shown you the world, like I promised.”

For many viewers, it was that moment — rather than the technical achievement itself — that made the video so affecting.

A weather balloon became Oscar’s final ride

Despite being described informally as a homemade “spacecraft,” the device was essentially a lightweight capsule carried by a high-altitude weather balloon.

The Battersby equipped it with a 360-degree camera so the flight could be recorded and added a GPS tracker that would allow him to find the equipment once it returned to the ground.

A portion of Oscar’s ashes travelled inside, turning what might have been an experimental balloon launch into a deeply personal memorial.

As the balloon climbed, familiar landscapes gradually disappeared beneath the clouds. The camera eventually recorded the darker skies and dramatic horizon associated with the upper atmosphere, producing images that appeared almost as though Oscar had travelled into space.

Did Oscar’s ashes actually reach space?

While descriptions of the viral video have referred to Oscar being sent “into space,” high-altitude balloons typically remain within Earth’s atmosphere.

Such balloons can climb into the stratosphere and reach heights where the sky appears almost black and the curvature of the planet becomes visible. However, this remains below the Kármán line, located about 100 kilometres above sea level and commonly used as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

That technical distinction did little to diminish the symbolism of the journey. From the camera’s perspective, Oscar had been carried high above the world his owner once promised to show him.

Balloon burst sends Oscar’s ashes into the atmosphere

The flight reached its dramatic final stage when the balloon expanded and eventually burst as atmospheric pressure fell at higher altitude.

At that point, some of Oscar’s ashes were released, while the capsule began falling back towards Earth under a parachute.

There was one worrying moment after the GPS tracker stopped transmitting. The Battersby feared that the capsule — and the footage documenting Oscar’s journey — might have disappeared for good.

The signal eventually returned, enabling him to track down and recover the payload, including the camera that had captured the remarkable flight.

Why a Toy Story alien joined Oscar on the journey

Among the equipment inside the capsule was something far less technical: a small green alien from Toy Story.

The toy had been one of Oscar’s favourites, and The Battersby included it as another connection to the dog he was remembering.

Footage of the familiar green character travelling high above the clouds became one of the video’s most striking images. Against the enormous backdrop of the Earth, the little toy gave the mission an intimate touch and made clear that the flight was never simply about reaching an impressive altitude.

Every part of it had been designed around Oscar.

Pet owners connect with The Battersby’s unusual farewell

The TikTok video subsequently crossed one million views, with the story finding an audience well beyond those interested in high-altitude balloon launches.

Pet owners responded to the grief behind the project, while others were fascinated by the lengths The Battersby went to fulfil a promise to his dog.

The tribute stood out because it combined two very different elements: a technically ambitious DIY project and an experience familiar to millions of people — the difficulty of saying goodbye to a pet that had become part of the family.

Rather than choosing a conventional resting place for all of Oscar’s ashes, The Battersby transformed some of them into one last shared adventure.

High-altitude balloons offer a different kind of memorial

The idea of carrying ashes towards the edge of space is not entirely new. High-altitude balloon launches have become one way of creating unusual memorials without relying on a rocket launch or commercial spaceflight.

Weather balloons can carry lightweight payloads far into the upper atmosphere, producing views that resemble those seen from space while remaining considerably closer to Earth.

For The Battersby, however, altitude was ultimately secondary.

The mission was about completing something he had promised Oscar while the French Bulldog was still alive. The viral footage gave millions of strangers a chance to witness that promise being fulfilled — one final trip above the clouds for a dog whose owner had once told him he would see the world.