A Stratollite rises above Spaceport Tucson in October 2017. From top to bottom: the primary lift balloon, a secondary balloon for altitude control, a solar panel, and the payload.
Photographer: Steven MecklerThis Company Wants to Send You to the Stratosphere in a Balloon
World View has figured out how to keep a capsule stable 100,000 feet above the Earth. Interested in a ride?
The chicken sandwich has to get to space.
This is what everyone at World View Enterprises Inc. was thinking as they set to work in the predawn hours of June 29, 2017, at the Page Municipal Airport in Arizona. KFC Corp. had hired World View, a maker of high-altitude balloons, to ferry a Zinger, which consists of a spicy breaded chicken fillet topped with lettuce and a little mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun, through the upper reaches of the atmosphere and into the heavens. The publicity stunt would result in glorious images of the sandwich set against the stark black backdrop of space, and it would announce World View and its balloons to the paying public. “At first we thought it might not be a good idea,” says Andrew Antonio, director for business development at World View. “People would think we’re the chicken sandwich company, and that would be really bad. But we were just starting out, and ultimately this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use millions of dollars in KFC’s ad budget to tell our story.”