British Supermarket Sends a Single Chicken Nugget to Space

Lots of things have been sent up into space: Cookie dough. $23 million dollar toilets. But this might be the first time fast food has boldly gone where no fast food has gone before.

According to The Irish News, British supermarket chain Iceland Foods Ltd. (not to be confused with the country of Iceland) launched a chicken nugget into space on Oct. 13 in order to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“2020 is a huge year for us as we celebrate our 50th birthday, and we wanted to find ways to mark the occasion, just like anyone celebrating a birthday in lockdown,” said Andrew Staniland, Iceland's trading director to The Irish News. “What better way to show that our products are out of this world than by sending one of our customer favorites into space.”

Iceland teamed up with space marketing company Sent Into Space in order to organize the launch, according to CNN.

The nugget was taken to a launch site in rural Wales, where it was sent via a gas-filled weather balloon to Near Space, about 110,000 feet (20.7 miles), The Irish News reported, traveling at about 200 mph. The UK outlet calculated that this is a distance of about 880,000 chicken nuggets. Near Space is the area between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. It begins at 12 miles above sea level, while Outer Space begins around 62 miles, CNN reported.

It floated in Near Space’s low pressure atmosphere for about an hour before descending back to earth via parachute. Since it was a frozen nugget, it seemed to be indifferent to the incredibly low temperatures of space, according to the Sent To Space website. At this point, it’s safe to say this breaded food is a hero to chicken nuggets everywhere.

Andrea Romano is a freelance writer in NYC and makes her own chicken nugget dipping sauce. Follow her on Twitter @theandrearomano.