Which fast-food franchise was the first to sell a pizza in space?

Pizza Hut was the first fast-food franchise to sell a pizza in space.

In 2001, Pizza Hut arranged for a pizza to be delivered to the International Space Station aboard a Russian resupply mission. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachov received the pizza, which had to be specially prepared for the demands of space travel. The stunt linked the brand to the growing public fascination with the International Space Station and commercial marketing beyond Earth.

Ordinary restaurant pizza could not simply be sent into orbit. The product and packaging had to account for storage, transport, and eating in microgravity. The event was therefore both an advertising campaign and a carefully planned food-delivery experiment.

This fact is sometimes confused with the first food eaten in space, which involved much earlier astronaut meals and did not involve a restaurant franchise. Pizza Hut’s distinction concerns a commercial pizza delivery to the International Space Station, not the entire history of food in space.