The first ‘nugget-cosmonaut’ reached a height of 33.5 kilometers tied to a weather balloon and landed with a parachute. Who and why decided to launch this frozen product into the stratosphere?
In this unusual way, a British supermarket chain has celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Iceland company specializes in selling frozen products, and chicken nuggets form a large part of their business.
“What if we send a nugget into space?” Begins the 2-minute video that tells the story of space travel. It was launched near the Iceland supermarket chain office in North Wales.
With the weather balloon, the nugget reached the maximum height of 33.5 kilometers, which is equivalent to about 880,000 nuggets. Then it began to descend and at a height of 19 kilometers a parachute was opened to ensure the soft landing of the object.
The journey lasted an hour and 45 minutes. At cosmic heights the food experienced temperatures of up to -60 degree C and as it descended it reached 322 kilometers per hour.
Commenting on the event, Iceland’s commercial director said, “What better way to prove that our products are out of this world than to send one of our customers’ favorites into space?”
2020 has been really successful for this British chain. In just one week it sells more than 10 million chicken nuggets, pieces and strips, according to the Daily Mail. Iceland has also been named the fastest-growing street supermarket, with a year-on-year increase of 20.1%.
