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A company that wants to balloon travelers into the stratosphere is launching a KFC chicken 'space sandwich'

Dave Mosher   

A company that wants to balloon travelers into the stratosphere is launching a KFC chicken 'space sandwich'
kfc space sandwich world view illustration

KFC

An illustration of KFC's "space sandwich" in a capsule. The sandwich will actually ride inside a balloon-borne craft called a Stratollite.

A company called World View is about to launch fried chicken inside a space capsule.

The publicity stunt, scheduled for June 21, is being bankrolled by KFC to promote its spicy Zinger chicken sandwich.

The chicken will launch from Tucson, Arizona, attached to the end of a high-altitude balloon. Although the fast food brand claims this will be a "space sandwich," they'll miss that mark. The edge of space is about 62 miles above the ground, whereas World View's Stratollite - a new craft designed to fly small payloads into Earth's stratosphere - will loft the sandwich about 15 miles up.

"Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to Earth after mission completion," World View said in a press release.

Stratollites are an initial step in World View's larger goal to launch paying customers more than 19 miles above the Earth.

As a passenger inside the company's pressurized Voyager craft, which will dangle at the end of a balloon, you'd be able to see the curvature of Earth. The roughly five-hour trip would also include cocktails and stunning views of the stars, though it might set you back more than $75,000 - about the price of a new Tesla Model X 70D.

Here's a peek at what it'll be like to float at an altitude of 100,000 feet, above 99% of Earth's atmosphere.



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