Two new additions to my list of inspirational ladies: Rebecca and Kimberly Yeung, ages 11 and 9, respectively.

The sisters jumpstarted their scientific career when they designed and built the Loki Lego Launcher, a ballooncraft built out of plywood, bent archery arrow shafts, rope, and a weather balloon.

"The craft's name came from two pieces of cargo: a Lego figurine of R2D2 and a picture of their late cat, Loki. There was also a flight computer, a GPS tracker, a temperature and pressure sensor and two GoPro cameras," KUOW reports. When the Loki Lego Launcher was released just outside of Ritzville, Wash. last September, it rose up to 78,000 feet (nearly outer space!) before the balloon burst.

Recently, Rebecca and Kimberly's story became even cooler: The Yeung sisters were invited to present their project at President Barack Obama's last White House Science Fair. There, they reported their findings alongside a host of other science wiz kids.

And I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise that Obama, who is an adorable goofball when it comes to meeting kids, wouldn't be able to resist poking a little fun at the Yeung sisters when he found out the Loki Lego Launcher nearly landed on a cow pie. From KUOW:

The AP reports that President Obama came over to Kimberly and Rebecca's table and, after examining the Loki Lego Launcher, said "but cow poop didn't get on this? You're sure?"

This story and its headline have been updated to show that the Yeung sisters are from Seattle, not Ritzville, Wash. where they launched their ballooncraft.