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Iceland has just launched the first ever chicken nugget into space

The humble chicken nugget was launched a whopping 110,000 feet into the stratosphere.

Emily Sergeant - 13th October 2020

Iceland has sent one of its most beloved products a whopping 110,000 feet into space as a way to celebrate the supermarket’s 50th birthday.

The humble chicken nugget has been on quite the journey.

As bizarre as it sounds, the chicken nugget took around one hour and 45 minutes to reach 110,000 feet above the earth – which is “around 880,000 Iceland Chicken Nuggets high” – and was launched into the stratosphere from a location close to Iceland’s head office in Deeside, North Wales, as a way of uniquely marking series of huge milestones for the supermarket.

According to Iceland, the lucky nugget “left behind grey skies, COVID 19, Brexit and Piers Morgan to shoot through the troposphere to the stratosphere”.

There it was able to “enjoy momentary peace, clearer skies, spacecraft and possible sightings of the world’s highest flying birds such as the Rüppell’s Vulture and the Common Crane”, and apparently it was quite an appropriate journey for the frozen food retailer’s popular product as the nugget “would have felt right at home in the stratosphere in freezing temperatures of around – 60°C”.

Having reached its peak height, the chicken nugget – which is believed to be the first ever chicken nugget to make it to space – then rocketed back down to earth at 200 miles per hour, until its parachute launched 19km above ground level for a safe landing.

We promise we’re not kidding you here, this really did happen.

Why exactly did Iceland do this then?

Well, it was crowned king of the family favourite as sales of its own-brand breaded chicken products soared at the supermarket, and this also follows “a hugely successful year”, where it was named the fastest growing high street supermarket in the UK.

Chicken nuggets have remained a staple in the frozen aisle throughout Iceland’s 50-year history, selling more than 10 million Chicken Nuggets, Chunks and Strips last week alone.

Andrew Staniland – Trading Director at Iceland – said: “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. What better way to show that our products are out of this world than by sending one of our customer favourites into space.

“We’ve all changed the way we shop in recent months and frozen food has never been so popular.

“We’re looking forward to continuing to celebrate our 50th year with customers and thanking them for their support.”

Iceland managed to pull this off by partnering with Sent into Space – a team of experts in the field of stratospheric exploration – to create the perfect vessel for the nugget to travel in.

Yet another unbelievable story 2020 has brought us.