Supermarket chain Iceland sends chicken nugget into space

A chicken nugget has been sent into space by Deeside retailer Iceland - to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The supermarket chain said the breaded snack took just under two hours to reach 110,000ft (33,528m) above the Earth.

One of the retailer's most popular items was launched into the stratosphere's temperatures of minus 60C (minus 76F) from a location close to the company's head office in Deeside.

Having reached peak altitude, it then headed back towards Earth at 200mph (322kph), with its parachute deploying at around 62,000ft (19,000m) to enable a safe landing.

The altitude reached was reported to be equivalent to the height of 880,000 Iceland chicken nuggets.

A tweet from the frozen food retailer said, "We don’t know who needs to hear this, but we sent the first ever chicken nugget into space today."

Iceland, which saw growth of 20.1% year-on-year said it sells more than ten million chicken nuggets, chunks and strips in one week alone.

Trading director Andrew Staniland 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.

Iceland partnered with Sent Into Space, a team of experts in the field of stratospheric exploration, to send the nugget into the atmosphere.