對于肯德基來說，“好吃到飛起來”再也不是夸張的比喻了。近日，為了宣傳自家新推出的雞肉漢堡，肯德基和美國航空公司 World View 合作，用巨型太空氣球將一個漢堡送入了18.3千米~22.9千米的平流層。這一飛行高度是民航飛行高度的兩倍。

The moment we have all been waiting for finally arrived: A KFC chicken sandwich launched to the stratosphere suspended under a giant space balloon.
我們翹首以盼的時刻終于到來了：一個懸掛在巨型太空氣球下的肯德基雞肉漢堡被發射到了平流層。

Seriously.
真的沒騙你。

The spaceflight company World View launched the Zinger chicken sandwich to its position 77,000 feet above the surface of the Earth at 9:11 am ET on Jun 29. A silly video narrated by current Colonel Sanders Rob Lowe honors the "historic" launch.
航天公司World View于美國東部時間6月29日上午9點11分將肯德基勁脆雞肉漢堡發射到距離地球表面77000英尺（約為23470米）的高空中。肯德基老爺爺扮演者羅伯?羅伊解說的一段滑稽視頻記錄了這一“歷史性”的時刻。

While the KFC sandwich launch is extremely goofy, it's also important for World View.
雖然發射肯德基漢堡的行為非常滑稽，但是此舉對于World View公司來說意義重大。

This mission marks the first multi-day test of the company's Stratollite system, which makes use of a large balloon that lofts its payload - in this case, the Zinger sandwich - up high above Earth.
該項任務是World View首次對其Stratollite系統進行多日飛行測試。Stratollite系統利用巨型氣球將負載物送上高空。這一次，他們發射的是一個漢堡。

Eventually, World View hopes that this space system can be used to take images of the Earth, and provide internet service and other applications to people around the globe thanks to its ability to stay up in the stratosphere for multiple days.
World View希望最終可以利用Stratollite系統拍攝地球的照片，并憑借其能在平流層逗留多天的能力，為世界各地的人們提供互聯網及其他應用服務。

"We’re going to learn a lot about long-duration stratospheric flight, while at the same time developing and testing some core systems capabilities that we’ve never had before," Jane Poynter, World View CEO, said in an email before launch.
該公司首席執行官簡?波因特在發射前發郵件稱：“我們將探索關于平流層長時飛行的各種知識，同時開發和測試一些前所未有的核心系統能力?！?/p>

"For example, this is the first time we’ll be testing our solar power system, which is the on-board, regenerative power system that will allow the Stratollite vehicle to ultimately fly for months at a time without interruption. We’re also developing and testing a real-time HD video downlink system, among other critical systems improvements."
“比如，這次我們將首次測試太陽能發電系統。Stratollite搭載的可再生發電系統可以讓Stratollite太空車單次不間斷飛行數月。我們還在開發測試高清實時視頻向地傳輸系統，以及其他重要的系統升級?！?/p>

據悉，World View 原本希望Stratollite能夠滯空4天，以便開展各方面測試。但不幸的是，由于一個氣球高度控制系統發生輕微泄漏（a small leak in an altitude-control balloon system），這次飛行時間僅維持了17小時。

英文來源：Mashable
翻譯&編輯：董靜
審校：丹妮