Tucson-based World View Enterprises launched a KFC chicken sandwich into the stratosphere on a high-altitude balloon early Thursday morning from a site in Page, Arizona.
The launch β the second attempt after an earlier try was scrubbed for weather β was a major promotion for KFC's new Zinger spicy chicken sandwich.
But more importantly for World View, it was the beginning of the company's first multi-day mission for its Stratollite balloon technology, which is aimed at tourists and commercial and research markets for above-the-earth imaging and other applications.
World View says its Stratollites can be steered and made to hover over the Earth at the fringe of space for weeks, at a fraction of the cost of a geostationary space satellites.
While KFC has helped finance World View's development effort, data gathered from the mission will signal the technology is market-ready, the company said.
A video of the launch can be viewed on KFC's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/KFC
