Pie Enthusiasts Launch Meat And Potato Pie Into Space

December 17, 2016

In England, a group of pie enthusiasts sent a meat and potato pie into space ahead of the World Pie Eating Championship.

The pie was lifted into near space outside a pub in Wigan by a helium-filled weather balloon with a specially rigged camera attached and floated in the air for about two hours.

The owner of the pub, Tony Callaghan, told the Manchester Evening News they planned to see if the change in atmosphere would make the pie easier to consume for contestants in the World Pie Eating Championships 2016 on December 20.

“We are continually questing to go where mankind has never gone before – sub-16 seconds consumption of a regulation pie,” Callaghan said. “We are aware that scientists have been experimenting with plants on the International Space Station to see if their molecular structure changes, so we are experimenting with pies to see if the structure changes with space travel and allows the pie to be eaten quicker.“

A camera tracked the pie’s 100,000 foot journey into space and the data gathered by the experiment will be analysed, according to the BBC.

Bill Kenyon of Ultimate Purveyors of St. Helens, who provided the pies for the contest, said “neither the sky, nor the pie, should be the limit,” for the experiment.

“This pie will be tested to the extreme,” he said. “It’s structural integrity will be tested against the potential rigours of being served by a grumpy pie lady from Wigan or being transported for delivery in a pie van that hits a pothole in Hindley.“